How to leverage browser cache a specific file

[asbchris]

Hello all,
 I am trying to figure out how to add leverage browser caching to these items.

• http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?v=3.exp&sensor=false&language=en
• http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/webfont/1/webfont.js
• http://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js

Whats hard is I understand the purpose, but unlike a css file, how do you specify an expiration on an actual direct path file?

Any help or link to get help is appreciated.

Chris

[asbchris]

Well I guess it's what it is

thank you so much for your insight

[ThompsonPaul]

Unfortunately, you can't specify browser caching for 3rd party content, Chris. Those cache specs would have to implemented by the site the content is actually hosted on.

The only way around this would be to store the 3rd party scripts on your own site and reference them locally. Then they would fall under the caching directives your site had set. This is usually a bad idea though, as it means you'll have no way of knowing when those scripts might have been updated.

This is one of those areas where site speed best practices simply can't be applied to 3rd party content. And if it's just a few such resources it's not going to have much effect on page speed anyway. Where possible, try to load these scripts asynchronously (like analytics.js) or at least place them in the footer of site if you can.

Hope that helps?

Paul