a system and method for enabling versioning and partial web page caching is disclosed . one of the features of the present invention is the use of version information in the caching process at a server site to identify partial web page modifications . a second feature is the capability at the client site to identify , receive , and display individual portions of a web page . this avoids the necessity of having the client receive whole page content when only a portion of that content has changed . advantages of the present invention include a reduction in the server processing load as well as a reduction in the use of bandwidth utilization , an assurance that web page data is current in both server and client cache , and a dramatic increase in the speed of web page presentation .