Website cookies: What are they?

Many a times when we visit websites, we are met by a notification about the website using cookies; but what are cookies? are they in any way related to our snacks? this post will try to decrypt the jargon and explain website cookies, their functionality and their importance.

Website cookies are not in any way related to the snack although they share a similar name. website cookies get their name from the "magic cookie" based on what they are capable of doing in a website.

So what are they? Website cookies are small pieces of documents (text files) that are generated by the website and contain small bits of data and are stored on your computers browser. They help the website to record your browsing activity and have different functions.

There are two main types of cookies:

• Session cookies: these type of cookies remain in your browser during your browser session only, i.e. until you leave the website
• Persistent cookies: remain in your browser after the session (unless deleted by you)

Cookies can further be categorized as performance cookies and analysis cookies:

• Performance cookies: collect information about your use of the website, such as webpages visited and any error messages; they are required not to collect personally identifiable information, and the information collected is aggregated such that it is anonymous. Performance cookies are used to improve how a website works.
• Analysis cookie: used to monitor and analyze the behavior of users of the web sites. The information gathered through such cookies is used for measuring the activity of web sites in order to make improvements based on the usage data analysis.

Website cookies are important for three main purposes; session management, personalization and tracking:

• Session Management: for websites, session management is the ability to remember user activity during the visit i.e. for e-commerce websites - keeping track of items you've added to cart.
• Personalization: some websites allow users to choose their font size, color etc. once you set your preferences, cookies will store them and every time you visit the website it will load with your preferences.
• Tracking: Tracking cookies are used to track users' web browsing habits. it will track the pages you visit, the type of browser you're using etc.

Website cookies are an important component of modern web. Cookies are a necessary part of the way the web works as well as a source of privacy concerns.