[Previous] [Next] [Index]
[Thread]
Re: how do I keep a browser from caching files
Gene, it's worse than that.
That is, the HTTP directives that say "do not cache this document" are
meant to control *ONLY* what happens if you try to fetch the document
again. There is currently no standard way and no proposal for any way
that a HTTP server can say to a HTTP client "do not even show this
page to a web client when the user presses the 'back' button".
For example, Internet Assistant for Microsoft Word turns Word into a
web browser. What happens is that when you fetch a URL, it opens a new
document, and converts the HTML into Word format. All the back button
does is close the window on top. Nothing gets erased from the local
machine until the user explicitly closes the page.
I've seen several experimental web browsers that also operate in a
similar manner. Opening a new page doesn't close the previous one.
Every click of the mouse is just like "New Window with this Link".
If the user has selected "New Window with this Link" every time, then
the only way to make sure the data has actually been erased from the
someone else's view is to ask them to close the application and delete
any temporary files on the disk.
> <HEAD>
> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Pragma" CONTENT="no-cache">
> </HEAD
won't do it. And HTTP-EQUIV won't survive into HTTP/1.1.
Larry
References: