Computer users may access the vast resources of the World Wide Web using web browsers and other like client-side applications, which generally operate by receiving code written in a computer language such as Hypertext Markup Language (or “HTML”) from one or more servers and/or server-side applications according to a certain protocol, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (or “HTTP”); parsing the code into a Document Object Model (or “DOM”); and assembling the DOM into a web page that may be displayed to a user on a user interface. Such browsers or other applications typically include engines for translating information received from a server into content that may be displayed on the user interface, interpreters for parsing and executing script, and databases or other data stores for storing information in the form of “cookies,” or files that relate to a user's browsing activity and may be retrieved by the same web site or other web sites in the future.
The display of a web page on a web browser begins with the initiation of a load event, which causes the web browser to transmit a request for one or more files associated with a Uniform Resource Locator (or “URL”) or other file location targeted by the load event. Such load events may include the entry of a URL into an address box or address bar; the selection of an image or set of text that may be hyperlinked to a URL; the selection of a bookmark, a home button or any other feature that may be linked to or otherwise associated with a URL; or a shut-down of the web browser and a subsequent return to the web page upon a restart of the web browser. When a user of a web browser provides the browser with a load event, the web browser may perform a search of various data stores, sometimes called a Domain Name System (or “DNS”) “lookup,” for an Internet Protocol (or “IP”) address associated with the URL. For example, when attempting to locate IP addresses that may be associated with the URL, the browser may search its own cached records, or records stored in caches on the operating system or router through which access to the Internet is provided, as well as external sources.
Once an IP address associated with the URL is identified, the browser sends a request for the web page at the URL, in accordance with the HTTP, to the server where the files associated with the page are located, and the server handles the request by providing a response to the browser in the form of code expressed in one or more computer languages, such as HTML. The browser may then begin to render the code into the web page, and may transmit requests, as necessary, for files that may be embedded within the code provided by the server. For example, where the code comprises HTML and refers to images, multimedia or other files that may be found at other locations (e.g., on external servers), the browser may transmit requests for each of the files. As the code and other files are received by the browser from the server, the browser may begin to assemble the web page for display on a user interface.
Occasionally, during the loading of a web page, or after the loading of a web page has completed, a user of a web browser may elect to initiate a reload event which results in the retransmission of a request for the one or more files associated with the same URL that was provided in the load event that prompted the initial loading of the page. Most commonly, a reload event includes the selection of a “reload” or “refresh” button, which resubmits the URL for the web page that was most recently submitted to the servers, and causes the web browser to begin to load the web page again. Other reload events may include, but are not limited to, the reentry of the same URL that was provided with the load event into an address bar or address box, the reselection of an image or set of text that is hyperlinked to the same URL that was provided with the load event (i.e., selecting a hyperlink in a web page or electronic mail document, the selection of a bookmark for a web page that is currently displayed), or any step that returns the web browser to the web page following a shut-down or other action that secures the operation of the web browser.
A user of a client-based application such as a web browser may initiate a reload event for a variety of reasons. First, the user may be dissatisfied with the rate at which the web page, or one or more elements expressed thereon, loads on the display. Second, one or more of the elements intended to be expressed on a web page, or the entire web page itself, may ultimately fail to load. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the user may be hindered or prevented from performing one or more tasks that prompted the user to visit the web page in the first instance. In this regard, the user's initiation of a reload event, which results in the submission of a second or subsequent request for a web page, may be detected and interpreted as an expression of dissatisfaction with at least one aspect of the web page, or an indication that the user is experiencing a difficulty in performing one or more tasks such as those that may ultimately be performed after the reload event. Accordingly, the initiation of a reload event, or the frequency with which users initiate reload events (e.g., the number of reload events initiated per unit time), may be tracked and analyzed to determine the interactivity of the web page and/or whether any remedial measures are required with respect to the web page, the client-side application or the server on which the web page and associated content is stored.