How can a browser ask whether a page has changed?
A browser may already have a stored copy of something you want to open. Instead of downloading it again immediately, it can ask the server whether that copy is still valid. An HTTP response saying “304 Not Modified” lets it reuse the stored content, when the resource’s caching rules allow this.
Questions you could explore
- How does a version identifier help the server answer?
- Why is a stored copy not always a usable copy?
Start reading
- MDN Web DocsHTTP caching
MDN’s validation section explains conditional requests, ETags, and 304 responses.
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