Solved Cache Is Not Reset With Reload

mowest

I'm enjoying Vivaldi, but reloading a simple webpage does not refresh the cache, which is the behavior that I'm familiar with from Firefox.

Perhaps, there is a good reason for this behavior, but I'm scratching my head to understand why reloading a webpage fails to reload a website cache.

I am not a web developer, but this behavior has caused me a few hours of frustration until I figured out that this was Vivaldi's behavior. I use Docsify SSG to maintain a personal documentation wiki on a home lab server. When I update the markdown of a page, and reload the Vivaldi tab that is displaying the Docsify site, it won't show the changes until I delete the cache (I often pick the last 4 weeks just to make sure that if it has been a while since I updated the documentation the cache for that site is deleted and reloaded).

I also help write documentation for an open source project, and they include a script that starts a containerized webserver to display a preview of the documentation on a specific port on localhost, but reloading the Vivaldi tab displaying that preview also fails to update changes even after reloading and even after restarting the containerized webserver.

I don't really desire to delete all of the cache that I have for every website that I have visited in the last 4 weeks just so I can see the changes that I made in my documentation in the last few minutes.

Wouldn't it make sense to just have the "reload" command refresh the cache for that webpage like it does on Firefox?

Perhaps, I'm missing something, but this seems like the main reason why you would use the reload command in the first place, since old cached information is often what is causing issues in websites that are not loading or displaying properly.

Clearly others have run across this behavior as well with frustration.

iAN CooG

@mowest Ctrl-F5 is the key combo you're looking for.

mowest

@iAN-CooG
Thank you! I did not know that there was a keyboard shortcut that reloaded differently than the reload button on the toolbar. I'm perfectly content with another reason to keep my hands on the keyboard to get the job done. Thank you so much! I just tested this with an update to my Docsify wiki, and the keyboard shortcut did exactly what I expected it to do. I can stay in Vivaldi for my documentation work too now.

Pathduck

@mowest You can also add Force Reload to the context menu of the Reload button, should you ever feel too lazy to use the keyboard hotkey:

As far as I can tell the Reload button in Firefox still fetches from cache when clicked. It only skips cache if Shift-clicked. This is standard browser behaviour for a long time. Unfortunately Shift+click seems to do nothing in Vivaldi, I believe this is a long-standing bug.

Another tip, even if you're not a web developer, it's good to know of the Devtools. Press F12, network tab, there you can force Disable Cache, very useful for such situations.

I don't really desire to delete all of the cache that I have for every website

In Devtools > Application > Storage, you can force delete site data for a specific site, to avoid deleting all cache when testing stuff like this.

derDay

@pathduck said:

Unfortunately Shift+click seems to do nothing in Vivaldi, I believe this is a long-standing bug.

perhaps because SHIFT+LMB drag buttons to another place?

RichardHC

@pathduck said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

You can also add Force Reload to the context menu of the Reload button

I found the menu customization in settings selected the Reload Button but the whole box is greyed out and I can't change or add anything.

RichardHC

@mowest AMEN!!!!! the default for the recycle button should definitely be to to reload from the server. Really, why else would you click on it?

TbGbe · Win: Snapshot Vivaldi 7.4.3671.3

@richardhc said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

I searches in the menu bar and settings I couldn't find where to context menu of the Reload Button. How do you do that?

Look in "Settings/Appearance - Menu Customization"

RichardHC

@ian-coog
Ctrl-F5 does not refresh from the server on my Windows 10 Vivaldi 5.0.2497.48 (Stable channel) (64-bit)

I finally got Ctrl+Shift+R to reload the page from the server. Ctrl+F5 is also listed as the hot key in settings but it does not work. I tried deleting the hot key setting and entering something else but I can't add anything to the empty box. Reset the default. I'm running Vivaldi as admin.

RichardHC

@tbgbe I did, and found it but the window under it is blank and I can't add or change anything.

iAN CooG

@richardhc said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

@ian-coog
Ctrl-F5 does not refresh from the server on my Windows 10 Vivaldi 5.0.2497.48 (Stable channel) (64-bit)

I finally got Ctrl+Shift+R to reload the page from the server. Ctrl+F5 is also listed as the hot key in settings but it does not work. I tried deleting the hot key setting and entering something else but I can't add anything to the empty box. Reset the default. I'm running Vivaldi as admin.

That's strange, as they are by default both shortcuts for the same function, here's a screenshot of my keyboard setting, I just tried to delete it and click on the restore default button to be extra sure about it:

Try updating to the latest snapshot

RichardHC

@ian-coog I tried setting up a new admin account on my computer (in case there was some other setting causing the problem), logged in to the new account, downloaded the latest version, and it does exactly the same thing; Ctrl+Shift+R reloads the page, Ctrl+F5 does nothing - although it is, as you say, listed as the correct hotkey just as in your image.
Anyway, the important thing for me would be to change the default menu reload button to reload from the server and I can't change that setting in either account on my computer (as in my photo above). Very frustrating.

Do you have any idea why the reload button does not reload from the server in Vivaldi by default? I'm assuming there is a rational explanation but can't think of one.

Pathduck

@richardhc

Using Ctrl+R, notice the memory cache used:

Using Ctrl+F5:

Anyway, the important thing for me would be to change the default menu reload button to reload from the server

Did you see my suggestion earlier?

Do you have any idea why the reload button does not reload from the server in Vivaldi by default?

Because no other browser does it and never has?

It checks for expired resources and will only send a new request if a resource has been modified or cache is expired, otherwise it uses cache to save time, there's no need to get all the data again if it's not been changed. This is what Force Reload is there for.

Please read:
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/http-headers-last-modified/
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/http-headers-cache-control/

RichardHC

@pathduck said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

Did you see my suggestion earlier?

Yes, I found the place in settings you indicated but I could not change it, the box below the Menu Customization/Reload Button was blank and greyed out. See the image I uploaded above.

RichardHC

@pathduck said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

Because no other browser does it and never has?

Edge does reload from the server when I click on the reload button - even if nothing has changed. I'm a web developer and if I upload a change to a page Edge shows the change as soon as I hit the reload button. Vivaldi does absolutely noting at all when I hit the reload button after uploading a change to a page. What's even more strange is I don't recall this being a problem a few versions ago. I just hit the recycle button and it reloaded the page with new changes right away.
I can get it to reload with Ctrl+Shift+R but I don't remember having to do that before.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Vivaldi, it's brilliant and I've been a dedicated user since the very first version. I recommend it to everyone. But the reload issue has been a recent disappointment. I appreciate your help and suggestions.

Pathduck

@richardhc said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

Yes, I found the place in settings you indicated but I could not change it, the box below the Menu Customization/Reload Button was blank and greyed out.

I don't think you understand how it's used. Please read:
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/appearance-customization/customize-application-and-context-menus/

I made a quick video showing how to add it:
https://ttm.sh/inU.mp4

I'm a web developer

Since you're a web developer, surely you know about the Devtools and examining what headers your server sends to the browser. Is your server properly updating the Last-modified header when the code is changed, or sending a 304 Not Modified header?

I just tested on a server, modifying a basic html file, and every time I did a change to the code, the server updated the last-modified time, and Vivaldi got the file from the server instead of cache.

RichardHC

@pathduck said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

I don't think you understand how it's used. Please read:
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/appearance-customization/customize-application-and-context-menus/
I made a quick video showing how to add it:
https://ttm.sh/inU.mp4

OMG, you are so right! I apologize for not finding that help page.
It all is working perfectly now. And is so simple and easy. Thanks again for your help.

RichardHC

@pathduck said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

surely you know about the Devtools and examining what headers your server sends to the browser. Is your server properly updating the Last-modified header when the code is changed, or sending a 304 Not Modified header?

Here's what's happening; The pages I've been working on have not changed, BUT, the images loaded onto the page were changed. The images being loaded onto the page are a composite of small images loaded into a 360 degree sphere image projector.
On this example, I updated the new images but when I reload the page in Vivaldi the page reloads but not the images. No matter what I try the new image never shows up unless I delete the Vivaldi history cache entirely. I have to change to Edge to see the changed image.
https://newcaledonialagoon.com/underwaterspheres.html?s=pano34

Pathduck

@richardhc Maybe it's as simple as you've disabled cache in Edge Devtools, assuming you do development with Devtools open?

If you go into the server and do touch of a single image to change its timestamp, does it reflect in the last-modified header?

RichardHC

@pathduck said in Cache Is Not Reset With Reload:

If you go into the server and do touch of a single image to change its timestamp, does it reflect in the last-modified header?

Single images are not a problem. It's the host of hundreds of small images loading into the mosaic of the 360 sphere image that are not reloading (have a look at the link I sent, the page loads then the images load into the pano projector - 57 small images. The page refreshes from the server but Vivaldi's cache keeps the 57 small images. Deleting Vivaldi's cache solves the problem. I don't update these panos very often and as you say, Vivaldi does fine with normal website updates.
2022-02-07 07.56.38 newcaledonialagoon.com bc7cd75bcf7d.jpg