[thelist] User Agent CSS Reload Command

[Simon Willison]

Randy Pearson wrote:

> Are there any modern user agents, either MSIE or Gecko-based, that provide
> for something like a "reload external CSS" function?
> 
> Reason for asking: I often test dynamic web applications, and after making
> CSS changes, would like to ask the browser to re-render the page with the
> updated CSS, while not requiring it to refresh the page content from the
> server.

Depending on your browser Ctrl+F5 might work, but some browsers (in 
particular IE/Windows) cling on to cached CSS files like a limpet. One 
solution is simply to completely turn off caching in the browser on your 
development machine, forcing it to retrieve everything on every page 
load. If you're on a fast connection you probably won't notice the 
difference, but it will mean you'll be hammering any sites you visit a 
bit harder than they might want you to.

-- 
Simon Willison
Web development weblog: http://simon.incutio.com/