Cache, Cookies and How they Work
Web pages are filled with information that your computer has to load, read then translate into the images and buttons you see on your computer screen. This takes time and if a website has a lot of information it may take a really long time to load.
To combat this issue developers created the cookie. No, not the kind you eat. These cookies are little tidbits of information saved by your browser onto your computer or mobile device.
When you visit a website your browser stores away cookies of information about that website’s code, so when you return, your browser does not have to go back through the process of loading, reading and translating all over again. That is why when you go back to a website you’ve already seen, it loads much faster than the first time you visited. These cookies are saved away in your web cache and, thanks to them, we can surf the web at lightning speeds.
There is one downside to storing cookies: when you make an update to your website that requires changes to the code, your cache is likely still storing older cookies or versions of your website, and the changes your developer made might not appear immediately.
This does not mean anything is broken or that the updates never launched, though, so before you go into full red alert, just remember it’s as simple as clearing your cache.
Once your cache is cleared, your browser will look at your website as if it were brand new and will store new cookies with all the updated code, revealing your updates in their full splendor.
