Website CSS & JavaScript slow to update

Question

I've connected to my server via FTP using Visual Studio 2013, and whenever I make changes to my .js or .css files, it takes up to several minutes for my website to update in the browser (same in Chrome, Firefox and IE). Interestingly, my regular HTML code updates instantly.

This is not a cache issue, as I have the "Disable cache (while DevTools is open)" option enabled in Chrome. I have also tried using PHP to add a random timestamp when loading the files, as such:

    <script src="js/site.js?t=<?= time();?>"></script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/site.css?t=<?= time();?>">

However, simply opening the .js or .css in a new tab reveals that the contents still aren't updated, even though they are in Visual Studio.

Is this a host issue, Visual Studio bug or something with my browsers?

Answer 1

It turned out to be a host feature and I turned it off by entering this at the top of my .htaccess:

Header set Cache-Control "max-age=0, private, no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate"