Tell me why I should keep using Safari instead of switching to Chrome.

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Level 1

10 points

Tell me why I should keep using Safari instead of switching to Chrome.

I have a program that produces market charts. The charts are refreshed every couple minutes, at which time the chart image is sent to my website by FTP. That way I can see the chart on other devices such as my phone or my wife's phone.

When I go to Safari to look at the chart, I don't always see the current chart. Cmd-R does not always refresh to the current chart. I know the current chart is on my website because FileZilla shows it there.

When I go to Chrome to look at the chart, I don't always see the current chart. However, Cmd-R DOES refresh to the current chart.

After getting the current chart on Chrome, Cmd-R will refresh to the current chart on Safari. But not until I refresh the chart on Chrome.

So Chrome is able to see the current chart but Safari is not until I force it with Chrome. I have tried turning off caching on Safari and the website I use to find the chart I want includes <meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache"> and <meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache">

It appears that Chrome is able to do something to the website that Safari is not. Safari works well in general, but in this particular case it fails me. I will probably be switching to Chrome unless someone can come up with another suggestion that works.

MacBook Pro 16″, 15.3

Posted on Mar 7, 2025 1:14 PM

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Answer 1

etresoft

Level 9

56,212 points

Mar 7, 2025 4:19 PM in response to vegfarmer

vegfarmer wrote:

I have tried turning off caching on Safari and the website I use to find the chart I want includes <meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache"> and <meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache">

That is on the HTML level. Safari is never seeing it because the caching problem is at the HTTP level. But it's really tricky because there are so many different things that can affect how the cache behaves.

You'll need to dig into the innards of your server to see what HTTP headers it is putting on your dynamic content.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Mar 9, 2025 2:48 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

Mac Jim ID wrote:

I would also suggest to try Brave. It is the same chromium based browser as Chrome without all the tracking and personal information gathering that is done by Google.

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Answer 3

Mar 7, 2025 7:28 PM in response to vegfarmer

I always have two browser running. I leave Safari set as the default...

My main working browsers is Firefox.

I agree from above use what works, why beat your head against the wall.

Different browser have different rendering engines — a few examples:

Safari—Webkit as its core rendering engine

FireFox—Gecko rendering engine

Chrome—Blink rendering engine

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Answer 4

vegfarmer Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 9, 2025 9:09 AM in response to vegfarmer

I found a way to disable the cache on Safari.

Enable 'Develop'. Safari Settings > Advanced > check 'Show features for web developers'

Click on Develop> 'Show Web Inspector'

Will test it this week to see if it does the job.

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Answer 5

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,581 points

Mar 9, 2025 12:38 PM in response to leroydouglas

leroydouglas wrote:

I always have two browser running. I leave Safari set as the default...

My main working browsers is Firefox.

I agree from above use what works, why beat your head against the wall.

Different browser have different rendering engines — a few examples:

Safari—Webkit as its core rendering engine

FireFox—Gecko rendering engine

Chrome—Blink rendering engine

+1 - me too. FF has an RSS extension that's perfect for my needs and I use it with a JS blocker for some annoying sites but everything else is Safari.

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Answer 6

Mar 7, 2025 3:38 PM in response to vegfarmer

Use whatever browser you wish to use. Try FireFox as well. The issue appears to be caching of the site content. My web server caches and therefor serves images for a longer time than updated text in pages. Both the server and your browser likely perform caching so when you upload a new page you need to make sure the site cache is cleared on both the server and in your browser in order to see the newly loaded page data.

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Answer 7

Mac Jim ID

Level 9

59,258 points

Mar 7, 2025 3:57 PM in response to vegfarmer

I would also suggest to try Brave. It is the same chromium based browser as Chrome without all the tracking and personal information gathering that is done by Google.

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Answer 8

John Galt

Level 10

155,060 points

Mar 7, 2025 3:58 PM in response to vegfarmer

Agree with trying Brave.

There is never any justification for installing Chrome on a Mac.

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Answer 9

vegfarmer Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 9, 2025 12:27 PM in response to etresoft

But I DO want to disable the cache. Permanently. It does me no good and interferes with the timely presentation of my website. My website changes every couple minutes and the cache prevents me from seeing the most current page. I won't know if it works until the stock market is open so I'll be checking next week.

Having to clear the cache every time I open the website is counterproductive.

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Answer 10

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,581 points

Mar 9, 2025 12:41 PM in response to vegfarmer

Personally I'd keep off Chrome. Google's about to change the way it works which will, effectively, disable most ad-blockers and possibly privacy blockers. The last google app I installed on a Mac kept nagging me and phoning home after I'd deleted it and it took ages with a search app and a lot of sudo-ing in Terminal to get rid of the nagware that had been left behind. Never again.

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