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Clicking a link vs. typing the link in the address bar is giving me different results.

  • 1 reply
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  • Last reply by guigs

AnthonyRC
AnthonyRC
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Background: I have a word document that I use as my homepage. It is nothing but a big list of my favorite links. It is my own personal style of using bookmarks.

I use it over regular bookmarks because I also have "search for text when I type" on. So to activate a link, all I have to do is type "facebook" and hit enter and off I go. Actually just "f" is enough since it is the first link in my list.

Problem: Lately I have noticed that sometimes when I click a link on my page, the page does not connect. But if I type the url in the address bar, it works fine. My colleague is the one who said "try typing it as a URL instead of clicking on it in your list." And it worked.

She says she believes that when I click the link, I am using a cached page, but if I type the URL manually, I am avoiding the cached page and that's why it works.

Questions: 1. Is she right? Is clicking on a link in a list of links using the cache while typing the URL isn't?

2. If so, how do I force "no use of cache" when I click those links?

3. If not, why is the behavior different when I type a link vs. clicking on that exact same link in a list?

4. Is there some other thing I am missing here?

Background: I have a word document that I use as my homepage. It is nothing but a big list of my favorite links. It is my own personal style of using bookmarks. I use it over regular bookmarks because I also have "search for text when I type" on. So to activate a link, all I have to do is type "facebook" and hit enter and off I go. Actually just "f" is enough since it is the first link in my list. Problem: Lately I have noticed that sometimes when I click a link on my page, the page does not connect. But if I type the url in the address bar, it works fine. My colleague is the one who said "try typing it as a URL instead of clicking on it in your list." And it worked. She says she believes that when I click the link, I am using a cached page, but if I type the URL manually, I am avoiding the cached page and that's why it works. Questions: 1. Is she right? Is clicking on a link in a list of links using the cache while typing the URL isn't? 2. If so, how do I force "no use of cache" when I click those links? 3. If not, why is the behavior different when I type a link vs. clicking on that exact same link in a list? 4. Is there some other thing I am missing here?

All Replies (1)

guigs
guigs
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Questions: 1. Is she right? Is clicking on a link in a list of links using the cache while typing the URL isn't?

This will depend on the link and how the server handles the request. Typing the URL all the way and hitting enter will bring you to a newly requested page. There is a local computer cache and there is a repository server cache- but I will not go into the details of this as it is not necessary.

2. If so, how do I force "no use of cache" when I click those links? To force the list of not using a cache is not to have one to begin with, but this would take away the history or bookmarks stored in the Firefox profile.

  • Hold down the Shift key and click the Reload button with a left click.

OR

  • Press Ctrl + F5 or Ctrl + Shift + R (Windows and Linux)
  • Press Command + Shift + R (Mac)

3. If not, why is the behavior different when I type a link vs. clicking on that exact same link in a list? This I am not sure of. Clicking a link sends the same request that a link from the url bar. However the url in the auto complete list is also a cached url in the Firefox profile history. History > Show all history.

4. Is there some other thing I am missing here? Reload the webpage while bypassing the cache using one of the following steps:

I am not entirely sure how the link is handled different, however if you ever want to bypass the cache try question 2 steps.

Modified by guigs