Why Use Custom 404 Pages?

Custom 404 error pages are not only important as sound SEO practice but also for increased visitor retention as well, and we all want to keep our visitors, now don’t we?

The 404 or Not Found error message is a standard HTTP response code that indicates when the client was able to communicate with the server but the server could not find what was requested. When a 404 is received on IIS the default settings will map the response to serve a Microsoft default 404 error page.

Webservers can be configured to display a customized error page; however, some browsers will not display this page unless they are larger than 512 bytes in size. When this happens, some browsers will replace too small pages with special 404 pages of their own. This is something that you will want to avoid; it doesn’t help your site and may just lead visitors away from your site. Read the rest of this entry »

What is Cache Control?

What is Cache Control?

Cache control is not to be confused directly with caching itself, which is generally a special high-speed storage mechanism that can be either a reserved section of main memory or an independent high-speed storage device. Cache control is also different from caching in ASP.NET or PHP Web development technologies that focus on the pre-generation of DB queries so dynamic pages load faster for browsers.  Read the rest of this entry »

Spend Your Cache Wisely

Spend Your Cache Wisely
Understanding Caching and Cache Control

Cache, not to be confused with “cash”, isn’t something to be spent down at the local market or every time someone loads your page for that matter. Effective cache control involves managing the freshness and frequency of your page loads. The basic idea behind caching is simple. Instead of wasting efforts by re-downloading a resource every time it is needed, keep a local copy, and reuse it for as long as it is still valid. Read the rest of this entry »

HTTP Compression : Smaller, Faster… Better

What is HTTP compression and how does it work?

HTTP compression is a long-established Web standard in which a GZip or Deflate encoding method is applied to the payload of an HTTP response, significantly compressing the resource before it is transported across the Web.

When data is encoded using a compressed format like GZip or Deflate, it introduces complexity into the HTTP request/response interaction by necessitating a type of content negotiation. Whenever compression is applied, it creates two versions of a resource: Read the rest of this entry »

Tap… Tap… Is This Thing On?

How can I tell when compression is working?

Our free online Compress Check tool is a good place to start. However, one of the best ways to answer this question is to look at the conversation between a browser and a server at the HTTP level. Since browsers generally do not display protocol-level data, you will need a tool that lets you see what the browser usually keeps hidden.

Fortunately, there are a number of options: Read the rest of this entry »