Re: lynx-dev Keeping browsers from caching

[David Woolley]

> Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this but i need to know of a HTTP
> header or some other content that will make most if not all clients not
> cache the page into their cache.  If anyone can answer this or point me to
> this info Thank You.

In general, no, because the browser is under the user's control and HTTP/HTML
is intended to be a tool for the user not the content provider.

However, I think IE4, in online mode, will revalidate every time if the
page is pre-expired.

POST results are uncacheable, but may still be returned from the history
stack.

Lynx caches more aggressively than most and the mood of the users tends
towards even more extensive caching, as they tend to be on slower links
than many GUI users.

NB defeating caching is generally anti-social; if the data is very dynamic,
it is best to give it a short, but realistic, expiry time than to attempt
to make it uncacheable.