Caching Ajax Websites for Mobile Content

Caching Ajax is a difficult task for developers especially browsers have different interpretation on caching content. Mozilla could easily cache streamed content of an Ajax based website. On the other hand IE has issues in caching since information might be continuously cache which will eventually cripple the website. Developers have pushed their coding a little bit more so that website could be loaded effectively in IE. The coming version of IE promises better performance for an Ajax based website but until that is released, cache will always be a problem for Ajax based website.

That situation is also the same for mobile devices. Most of the mobile devices that we have today are running on pocket IE – a smaller version that has limited capability. But that doesn’t mean it cannot effectively render an Ajax based website. All the developer needs to do is to optimize their website so that it could be easily loaded in mobile devices.

Developers have to remember the following if they want to ensure their website is good enough for mobile browsing:

• Mobile devices have limited ability to cache information – the hardware component of the mobile device is a limiting factor.
  
• The content that should be cached in the device however are still dependent on what type of browser you have – in this case, the software component of the mobile device is another limiting factor.
  
• Some caching practices can’t be support by browsers – caching for mobile browsers should be kept basic. No tricks allowed as mobile devices have very little resources to process them on time so that users could read them fast.
  

Obviously, the facts above proves that mobile devices maybe just too small for Ajax based websites. But that shouldn’t be the case. Instead of the hardware adjusting to the online application, developers should adjust to the hardware instead.

To minimize caching, developers have to ensure that not all components in the application should be cached. Basically, caching a component is all about placing expiration to the header. Developers could set the specific time for components to work and after certain time that no interaction or command from the user was received; the component would just cease to work automatically. The good thing about this is that components will be cached for sometime and stop when they are not needed. Since they are already loaded in the mobile device, it could be loaded faster.

Be sure to test each component after building them in a mobile device setting. By testing each component and testing the whole application, each part is ensured to work properly and the whole application will work as planned. Of course, it is expected that the application will not work at first try. The data streamed might slow down the process so components should not be cached. The only way to know which one not to cache is to test the application constantly.

By simplifying cache and testing the application constantly, developers should have a good Ajax application for mobile devices. Caching maybe a challenge but there will always be tweaks a developer could think of to adjust to the situation.