Refreshing your web browser (so easy a baby can do it)

What is refreshing and why do you have to do it?

Whenever you view a page on the internet you’re actually viewing it from your computer, rather than from the internet. Your web browser (eg Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Internet Explorer) actually downloads the web page to your computer first, and then displays it from your computer. So what you’re seeing is “second hand” as it were!

So if you’ve visited a web page before, and it’s changed since, then sometimes it may appear out of date as your web browser will show you the copy it downloaded before, rather than the up to date version. It’s an "old fashioned" way of doing things, but unfortunately this is the way the internet has worked for well over 20 years and largely still how it works! It was created this way because back when internet connections were really slow (eg when we were all using dial up!), it was quicker to “cache” the web page on your computer rather than download it each time.

So if you’re working on your website and it appears that changes you’ve made aren’t appearing, or if you’re visiting somebody else’s website and it looks like it hasn’t updated, then you might need to “refresh” the page or “clear your cache”.

The good news is that it’s so easy a baby could do it!

Read on for instructions on how to do it on different types of devices...

Before you refresh!!

Firstly, make sure you are looking at the page which is showing out of date content. This is very important. For example, if a picture appears to be an old one, be sure to be viewing the page which shows this picture as it must be this page which you refresh.

Instructions by device

Refreshing is different depending on which type of device you're using, so please find instructions below for each type of device.

The Windows and Mac instructions also have a video of Rob's baby daughter showing you how to do it when she was just a few months old. When we say it's so easy a baby could do it, we mean it! :)

Windows PCs
http://faq.ph9.com/faq_question.asp?key=1202&topic=on-a-windows-pc

Apple Mac
http://faq.ph9.com/faq.asp?key=187&topic=on-a-mac

iPhone/iPad
http://faq.ph9.com/faq_question.asp?key=1057&topic=iphone--ipad

Android tablet / phone
http://faq.ph9.com/faq_question.asp?key=1074&topic=android-phone--tablet-eg-samsung-google-pixel-htc-etc