Created: November 2015The purpose of this tutorial is discuss browser cache and the impact that might havewhen conducting meetings and webinars.Browser cache, referred to as cache, is temporary storage located on yourcomputer for files downloadedby browsers to display webpages. Files that are cached locally include anyelements that make up a webpage - text, images, multimedia and so forth. The scenarios we will discuss are not because of deficiencies with the Talking Communitiestechnology but rather with the design, structure, and operation of the Internet.We will focus on PowerPoint files in this tutorials but the points discussed equallyapply to any resources used for meetings and webinars.PowerPoint files file are converted from a Microsoft Proprietary format to HTML when the Web Document Centeris used. A collection of files are created for each PowerPoint slide and each slide has its own URL.Essentially each slide is a webpage.When URLs are initially loaded into a browser, or the Talking Communities Co-Browser,the files associated with the URL are first downloaded to cache. The files in cache are used by browser to perform the specified actions - such as displaying the content of the webpage.Actually, when URL are loaded the browser first examines cache to determine if the files for the URL exists in cache. If the files do exist the browser will use thosefiles to display the content. If changes have been made to the files those changes will not be seen until thebrowser has been asked to refresh the cache for that page. We do recommend moderators view each PowerPoint page before using them in meetings and webinars. This will loadthe files into the moderator's cache thus ensuring the pages will be displayed quickly. If changes have been made toany of the PowerPoint pages the moderator should request the co-browser refresh the pages that have been altered.If there have been numerous modifications it may be better to clear all the cache for Internet Explorer (forwindows) or Safari (for MAC) - the co-browser uses setting for these browsers.During meetings and webinars uploaded PowerPoint pages can be pushed to every guest in the room (i.e. Follow Meis enabled). The same process as described above will occur for each guest - URL content will be added tocache when the URLS are pushed. The cache will be examined and used to display the pages when the filesare available in cache. If guests have previously been in meetings or webinars where a PowerPoint has been used and, the PowerPoint has been modified, the guest will not see the most recent pages. They will have to refresh the cache for each of themodified pages. The activities the moderator performed to ensure the content in cache is current will have noimpact on the cache for any of the guests. As stated previously this the way the Internet is built. The problembeing is how to inform the guests on which pages to refresh. The tips below offer some suggestions.TipsThe falling comments are only pertinent when a PowerPoint has previously been used, been modified since lasttime, and the audience consist of individuals who were guests at the earlier meeting or webinar.
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