As a web developer, I am constantly reloading pages that are still in the development stage to see how my code is affecting the outcome (Dreamweaver can only preview so well in the design window, thank goodness for F12). Since I want to be absolutely sure that what I’m seeing is the most current version, I always turn my “Temporary Internet Files” and my “Cache” off. This becomes especially important as I develop with Flash.
When Firefox came out, I went to the options dialogue to turn off the cache and only noticed the option to specify how big the cache could be. So I ignorantly set the size to zero and thought it would do the trick. wrong! This causes major problems with our friend the Firefox.
The first issue I noticed was that I could no longer install extensions and themes. For some reason, firefox has to cache them before it can install them. So, thinking I was a genius, I set the cache limit to 1, instead of zero. That fixed the problem. For the past 6 months (or however long I’ve been using Firefox now) that’s the way it’s been. Until today.
Lately I’ve noticed that my personal websites (including the blog you are reading now) have had problems loading the CSS file. It was kind of random; sometimes it loaded, sometimes it didn’t. I searched and researched the problem blaming Firefox all the way. But today, as part of my research, I upped my cache to 10000 and the problem went away. So I started researching more in that direction and came across a help file on mozilla.org telling me that if I wanted to turn off cache I could do it by plugging about:config into the address bar and changing the setting browser.cache.disk.enable to false.
DUH! Why didn’t I think of that before. Probably because it should be in the options menu to begin with, in my opinion.
Now even though I have my cache set to zero my CSS files are loading properly and extensions have no problems installing because I have actually turned cache “off”.
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I’m having super huge Problems with Firefox and Safari. I’m running OSX10.4.10 now and the cache problem is so persistant that I can’t see any of my updates to the webwork I am performing. I never had this problem before 10.4.9 and now 10.4.10 made the problem worse. I have tried emptying all Library cache files and it still doesnt work. Also, I have tried fixing the issue by runing fix file priveleges with no luck. Also restarting……these browsers both suck and need repair quickly. Does anyone have a fix fo this?
Thanks!
There’s also this elegant “Disable Cache” feature in the Web Developer Toolbar extension, in case you have it installed.
With all love and respect for Mozilla and Firefox, but this should most definitely be in the options list.
The majority of web-users need simplicty and Mozilla should develop to make things as easy as possible for (apparently stupid) users like us.
Just to let you know, I have had my cache set to 0 for the longest time, and I have no issues installing extensions and themes…or anything else mentioned.
Not sure why.
hope this fix my firefox cahce problems! thank you
Thanks men! I was looking for this fix!
I clicked your adsense for this grate article ;p
Your article showed me a way to reactivate the cache that had been deactivated for no reason ! “browser.cache.disk.enable” was set to false. Thanks
Jeez… shouldn’t this have been in the “advanced” tab?! crazyness. my problems have disappeared! all my webpage changes miraculously started appearing. thanks!
your problems are ridiculous.
(install path)/firefox -p
quote:
[...]changing the setting browser.cache.disk.enable to false.[...]
Probably because it should be in the options menu to begin with, in my opinion.
end of quote.
You are wrong. It should not.
i got same problem before… what i did is i added a random number just after the php file. for example your page is “www.yourpage.com/phppdf.php”. just add a random number (you can use mt_rand() function) after the php file and dont forget to add “?”…. just like this one “www.yourpage.com/phppdf.php?1234567890″
hope this helps.
Your a legend mate
)
Thanks heaps for the heads up on this one.
Why the hell this isn’t an easily accessible option is beyond me
the easy way would be using the keyboard shortcuts like “Ctrl-Shift-R” or “Ctrl-F5″, (use command key on Macs) to reload the page.
If you’re going to edit the about:config, suggest you start with changing:
browser.cache.check_doc_frequency to 1
that way you can still use cache but check each time to make sure it’s current.
from:
http://psychnet.psych.ucla.edu/tutorials/web-browser-configuration/how-to-disable-your-browser-cache
and:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_About:config_Entries#Browser..2A
hope this fix my firefox cahce problems! thank you