Is there any way to determine or force a CSS file to be re-cached if the user is operating off an old file?
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Is there any way to determine or force a CSS file to be re-cached if the user is operating off an old file?
The single surest way to ensure that everyone reloads your new file is to change its URL. A reasonable way to do this without actually renaming it is to tack on a random string:
That’s using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and bypassing all the HTTP mechanisms that exist to do this, but it will absolutely work everywhere, whereas the other techniques all have caveats.
Edit: @jitter: You don’t have to change the URL automatically for every request – you could base it on the timestamp of the CSS file, or even just change it by hand when you want to ensure that the CSS gets reloaded.