Isn't it annoying when you go to view a web page and only half of it loads? Or, perhaps you get a "page not found" error message? These things happen all the time and may or may not be because there is something wrong with the website you went to look for.
The way the internet works is that when you type into your browser a website address a bunch of things happen:
~ The request for that website goes out through your internet access to your internet provider.
~ Your internet provider's computers look at the website requested and go out onto the internet to get it.
~ The request takes 10 to 30 hops (or more) going from server to server across the country (or even world).
~ The website requested is found and information gathered!
~ The information about that site takes 10 to 30 hops (or more) back across the country.
~ The information comes into your internet providers computers, and...
~ It is sent back to your computer for you to view!
As you can see, there are a ton of places along that path that something can go wrong. If even one of all of those "hops" gets interrupted, then the website doesn't come in right. All of us with high speed internet access think it's an instantaneous thing, but in reality it takes lots of "electronic time" for a website to come back to us.
So, what do you do when a site doesn't come in all the way or not at all? Try again!!!! If you hold down the "shift-key" and hit the "refresh" or "reload" button on your browser it will do what's called a "hard refresh". This means that it will try to find it all over again from the beginning. If you just hit "refresh" it may simply try to load the same piecemeal page it did before. But, a hard refresh will get it if it's available. If it's not available, come back in a few minutes. If even one server along the path doesn't process the information right (including your own internet access), then it won't show it to you.
The internet is a complex web of servers that span the world. Glitches do occur, but a "hard refresh" can help you get their quicker and more complete!
