FanConcert has a lot of content that can be read anonymously (like artist pages) but can also be personalized if a member is looking at it.

This brings up an interesting problem when I want do page caching. Page caching lets you keep around a static copy of a dynamic page, so if there have been no changes to a dynamic page since the last time it was requested, you just send the static copy. This can save server processing time and make the server seem faster.

Unfortunately almost every page on FanConcert is personalized in one way or another. So a goal could be to strip the personalized information from the pages so that there's a static base to the page (which can be cached) and then dynamic information can be overlayed on top or integrated within the page.

To the user the page seems personalized but on the back end they are actually getting a cached page plus some personal treatment on top of it or within it.

AJAX could be a good way of accomplishing this effect seamlessly. When I request an artist page, I could get the cached copy on the first request which fires off an additional request to get personal information (my tags on that artist, for example).

Then FanConcert could have the best of both worlds: decent page caching and personalized content. I wonder if the effort would be worth it?