Understanding Shopit's default cache
Shopit has a default cache setup for every website which - depending on the changes you make and the server connection locations - can mean you don't see web changes for 10 seconds to 10minutes
Why do you have a cache?
All website visitors demand a fast experience, which in turn improves your chances of conversion. Utilising a server and/or browser cache is a key way to achieve this.
Webserver caching services such as Cloudflare, Fastly and KeyCDN offer caching services that take a local copy of your website files closer to your user, meaning they can be delivered faster. With Shopit, you have no need, as the Google Cloud CDN is included.
Browser caching (on your user's local computer) can also speed up the displaying of a website - this is also included in Shopit's default caching process. We tell the browser to check the computer's local cache first, before making additional requests to the server, for a period of approximately 8-10 minutes for certain website information (see below)
What is affected, and what is not affected?
Not affected:
- Any changes you make to the Products database (visibility, prices, descriptions etc) will be updated immediately on your customer's browser
- Any pages, or blog posts you create or edit will be updated immediately on your customer's browser
Affected:
- Design changes (e.g. banners and graphics, snippets or other template code) will not update until the cache clears after 8-10 minutes.
What negative issues can this cause?
When making design changes to your site, you may be frustrated by not seeing them go immediately.
Most professional web design agencies will recommend a 'staging server' where changes can be privately rolled out, tests and discussed before copying them to the live server. Whilst thoroughly professional, this can add additional time and cost, hence we provide a 8-10 minute cache 'buffer'.
Careful use of Shopit's multisite feature means that experienced agencies could create a 'staging server' environment - using a second sales channel as a testing environment for the first sales channel.
What positive issues can this create?
This design cache buffer allows you to test HTML and CSS changes, to see what new banners etc look like before they go live to the public. If you make a mistake, or change your mind, you have a good period of time with which to undo your design change before it is launched to the public.
Search engines also like fast, responsive websites when they are indexing them, as they know that users like fast, responsive websites. Although only one factor, site speed is a key factor in gaining search engine rankings.
Can I shorten this cache time?
By utilising the Design - Edit Website link you can privately view your website as close to the real time code as possible. No external user can see this version of your site, so it provides a perfect opportunity to test changes first.
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