Caching (pronounced ‘cashing’), is a temporary storage area for downloaded files. This storage usually contains files that are automatically downloaded when you load up a website. For example, our logo on our Peters Web site (top left of the page), is automatically downloaded when you look at our website. It’s essential that files are downloaded from a website to your browser, as it allows you to view all of the content and interact with that website.
A great analogy to use when thinking about caching is if you were to visit a store to pick up some lunch. You haven’t visited this store before, so ask the store assistant where the items are that you are looking for. This visit takes some time, as you have to find where each item is within the store. The next day you enjoyed the lunch you had the day before so much so, that you go back to the same store for the same items. This time you don’t have to ask where the items are, as you recall where everything is from yesterdays shopping trip. Your visit is brief, you are in and out in no time, having much more time to enjoy that tasty lunch! This is a silly example but goes some way to explaining how caching works, and its importance as a process within your internet browsing experience. It’s great to have an area where files can be accessed, without having to retrieve them from a network every time you need to access them. This reduces network traffic and has a positive impact on the speed at which the web files download to your browser.
Here are some links to some other Knowledgebase articles that discuss Caching: –
‘Information about Cloudflare‘
I have included the article about Cloudflare, as i would say it is the best platform for caching (the data is distributed amongst over 150 data points)
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