“I don’t see any of the website changes that we discussed.”  I probably hear this saying at least a couple of time during a website design project.

The problem with seeing the most recent updates to a website is your internet browser (Internet Explorer,  Firefox, Chrome, and many more) use caching.

Internet browsers use caching to store HTML web pages by storing a copy of visited pages and then using that copy to render when you re-visit that page. So instead of seeing the most recent version of a website, your browser pull up the stored version. If the date on the page is the same date as the previously stored copy, then the computer uses the one on your hard drive rather than re-downloading it from the internet.

The  website version on your hard drive is an older version and will not have the most recent changes.

How do I clear Internet Explorer Cache?

Here are the steps to seeing the most recent version of a website.

Internet Explorer 8 and higher

1. From the Tools menu, select Delete browsing history

If the menu bar is hidden, press Alt to make it visible.

1. Deselect (uncheck) Preserve Favorites website data, and select:
   • Temporary Internet files or Temporary Internet files and website files
   • Cookies or Cookies and website data
   • History

1. Click Delete.

2. I always recommend opening the browser and hit the refresh button just in case.

Now you will see the most recent version of a website.

Tomorrow I will post How do I clear my Firefox cache for those that use Firefox.