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Output Caching pages with user specific information

Answer 1

A:

One idea I had a bit ago was to cache the entire page and then, fill in user-spcific information using javascript. It'd require a very large re-architecture most likely, but the gains could be immense.

I wrote a proof of concept about it but the idea is render out the user data dynamically in an iframe:

<html>  
<head>  
<script type="text/javascript">  
var iData = {};
iData.loggedIn = true;  
iData.username = 'Your Username';  
iData.userLevel = 'Mod';  
</script>  
</head>  
</html>

Then in your (cached, static) page, manipulate the page:

var iData = window.iframe.iData;
if(!iData.loggedIn)
{
    $('topnav_hidden').style.display = 'none';
    $('topnav_pm').style.display = 'none';
    $('topnav_mcp').style.display = 'none';
    $('topnav_logout').style.display = 'none';
    hideModFunctions();

    var replyLinks = getElementsByClass('reply_links', $('mainTable'), 'span');
    for(var i=0;i<replyLinks.length;i++)
        replyLinks[i].style.display = 'none';

    var replyLinks = getElementsByClass('reply_links', $('basicTable'), 'span');
    for(var i=0;i<replyLinks.length;i++)
        replyLinks[i].style.display = 'none';
}
else
{
    $('fillin_username').innerHTML = iData.username;
    $('topnav_register').style.display = 'none';
    $('topnav_login').style.display = 'none';
    if(iData.userLevel != 'Mod' && iData.userLevel != 'Admin')
        hideModFunctions();
}

Now to be clear - this is probably not a practical approach for most people, but if you're really getting hammered and your content is 99% static, this could net you some big gains if you were willing to invest a lot of effort in setting it up.

Tom Ritter 2009-10-08 15:09:42

An interesting idea, however could have usability implications as parts of the site would be unusable with no js capability

Sheff 2009-10-08 15:20:43

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Output Caching pages with user specific information

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