0

Duplicate of what does do in a css link

I've seen a few sites who list a stylesheet with parameters in it. does anyone know what its called and what purpose they serve?

ex:

href="fonts.css?1169659562000"

Community
  • 1
  • 1

2 Answers2

3

The parameter is changed every time the content of the file changes. This allows the site hoster to set an infinite cache timeout, which keeps the browser from re-requesting the CSS. Without the parameter, updates would never reach the client.

See also the Stackoverflow Podcast #38 and the YSlow tool.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
David Schmitt
  • 58,259
  • 26
  • 121
  • 165
2

To force the browser to refresh the CSS link. It's more reliable than expires headings and the like.

cletus
  • 616,129
  • 168
  • 910
  • 942