Question
Mike from NC. writes:
" Can SSI files be cached by browsers therefore reducing the load time of web pages " ?

Answer
10/25/99

SSI stands for Server Side Include. Server Side Includes are instructions within web pages that cause the server to insert a file or other information into an HTML document.

Unfortunately, SSI files can not be cached by a browser like html, image, and other file types are. Browsers only cache discrete files, not parts of them.

Since browsers can't cache SSI files, the server still has to pass the information contained in the SSI file to the client (your browser), every time the file is called. SSIs are great for Web Developers because it saves them a lot of time and server space but, they are not all that great for the clients (your browser and therefore you), because they still have to render the SSI every time it's called.