What are expire headers? How do they work? How can I make a web page load faster using expire headers? How should I set the expiry time for objects that don’t change frequently on the website? What kind of expiry time should be set for objects that change frequently? How can I add an expire header?
I think it is “expires headers”, not “expire headers”. Expires headers allows the web browser to determine whether it should request a particular file from the server or grab it from the browser’s cache instead. The idea behind expires headers is not only to decrease the server’s load of downloads, where the same file is being downloaded constantly, but to lessen the number of HTTP requests to the server as well.
When you open a website, it is your web browser’s responsibility to communicate with the web server to download all the needed files. Once downloaded, the web browser will then compile those files to be able to display the web page. While web pages become richer in content and graphics, more and more files are getting transmitted between your computer and the web server.
Expires headers tell the web browser how long to store a file so that any succeeding page views will not require to download the file again. Also, expires headers will not improve or speed up the page load if it is the first time you visit the site because you have to download all the files for the first time.
But any succeeding visits to the same site will greatly improve the page load.
