IT website people here? (Houston, Howe: transfer, job, developers)

[Houston_2010]

Hi: I checked in City-DAta for a forum about IT but didn't see one. But being in Houston I figured maybe one of you have website experience and can answer my question.

There is a website that I work with for job related things. Whenever a new release goes out, or a fix, or sometimes even a restart of their server, they ask users of the site to delete Cookies and Temp Files in Internet Options on Internet Explorer. Does this sound like standard procedure or is there a way that the site can be updated, etc without having a user go to IE/Options to delete Temp Files or cookies (which happens at least once a quarter).

Let me know your thoughts.

[tdhg566]

There is no "standard procedure" regarding these things. Transferring some of the upgrade tasks from the developers to the users makes it easier on the developers. They could manage the situation themselves, by checking date/time stamps on cookies and version numbers on temp files. It's easier, however, to just assume that the user is starting with a clean environment.

[vabbrian]

When trying to access a web site your PC will initially attempt to load it from files stored within the temp internet files to speed up the process for you. So, by clearing the temp files, cookies, etc., you're guaranteed to get the latest and greatest version of the web site's associated files. It may be a PITA but it's a valid request.

[tdhg566]

Originally Posted by vabbrian

... but it's a valid request.

If this were a valid request, then EVERY site would/should be doing it. However, they don't (can't remember the last time I was asked to do this b the sites I visit), indicating simply that these web developers aren't using the right techniques, or enough of them.