advice on browser caching

[matt-e]

Hello, we have a few seller deck sites up and running but after a recent seo consultation we were advised to boost our pages loading speeds, so far using the firebug page speed plug in I've taken the score from 45 to 88, the last red mark against our site is browser caching.

I've set up the necessary rules in the .htaccess file and it's working the way it should I was just looking for advice on whether it's wise to cache things like the actiniccore.js and if so how long for?

What I'm worried about is me changing the site and a returning visitor being presented with a shopping basket that doesn't work because he's using an out of date .js file from his cache, or something similar, caching is new to me so please forgive me if the question seems silly.

Many thanks

[Duncan Rounding]

I presume you've done the basics already such as optimising graphics etc.?

[matt-e]

images optimised

Yep I've optimised images, made them the correct size etc, my last medium priority job is to 'leverage browser caching' which I've done with the images, I just want to make sure there are no potential ramifications to caching the actinic JavaScript files beyond a week, as google suggests.

[Duncan Rounding]

The standard js files shouldn't change so you should be ok with that caching.

[NormanRouxel]

In V11, SD loads the JavaScripts with a query string attached. E.g.

src="actiniccore.js?DAYNO=MHDB"

It's possible that having a query string attached (even though it doesn't change) defeats caching.