I don't think this is a client issue. I think it is a bug in Eclipse/ Tomcat plugin. If you check the request.getPathTranslated()
inside the servelet doGet
method, it will be something like
C:\Users\YourName\workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp1\
wtpwebapps\yourAppName\
So the tomcat running inside eclipse is serving up static content from there, which is different to the location of static content that you are editing, which is usually something like
C:\fullPathTo\yourAppName\src\main\webapp\static
Tomcat inside eclipse often neglects to update the static content from where you have edited it to the plugins... spot from where it serves it to your web page.
To solve the problem I use Beyond Compare or similar, and set up a compare between the directories
C:\fullPathTo\yourAppName\src\main\webapp\static
and
...\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp1\wtpwebapps\yourAppName\static
If css or other static changes (such as javascript files) fail to show up in the browser, just do a quick refresh of the Beyond Compare window, this will highlight the mismatches, copy them across manually, and you are good to go.
I know this is a hack but it works for me, till the eclipse guys get this sorted out.