Cookies are text files containing small bits of information — such as a username and password — that are used to identify your computer when you connect to the internet. HTTP cookies are used to identify and improve your web browsing experience by allowing you to identify specific users. When you connect to the server, the server creates data in a cookie. This information is identified by a number that is unique to you and your computer.
When your computer and the network server exchange cookies, the server reads the ID and knows what information to provide you personally.
What Are Cookies used for?
HTTP cookies are used by websites to make your web experience more efficient. You'd have to re-login after leaving a site without cookies, or rebuild your shopping cart if you mistakenly closed the page. Cookies have become an essential element of the internet experience.
The following is how cookies are supposed to be used:
Management of the session: Cookies, for example, allow websites to recognize users and remember their unique login information and interests, such as sports news vs. politics.
Personalization: The most common way cookies are used to tailor your sessions is through customized advertising. You may only view particular things or areas of a website, and cookies utilize this information to help create targeted advertisements that you would like.
Tracking: Cookies are used by shopping sites to track what items users have previously viewed, allowing them to propose additional items they might like and keep items in shopping carts while they shop.
Advantages of cookies
The cookies are simple to use and implement, they don't use any server resources, they're saved on the user's machine, so there's no extra pressure on the server's memory, and they're little in size, so they take up less memory and you don't have to transmit the data back to the server. You can set cookies to expire when the browser session ends (session cookies) or to stay on the client's computer for a set amount of time (persistent cookies), and permanent cookies last far longer than session cookies. One of the most important features of cookies is their persistence. Once a cookie is placed on a client's browser, it can stay there for days, months, or even years, making it simple to remember user preferences and visit information. The cookies are saved on the client's hard drive, so they are still accessible if the server fails.
Many businesses use cookie data to perform marketing campaigns targeted at a highly precise market segment, such as product groups, geography, search terms, and demographics.
Cookies make browsing the Internet faster and easier because they allow the website to recognize you and tailor your browsing experience based on previous visits. For example, certain websites customize site information based on your location (city) so you don't have to enter the same information every time you visit.
Although cookies make accessing the Internet a little easier, many people regard them as an infringement of privacy. Because most websites will not allow access unless cookies are permitted, browsers are set to accept cookies by default.
Is cookie management mandatory on websites?
There are three different type of Cookies:
Mandatory/Technical Cookies: Cookies used to navigate the website and to benefit from the features of the website are mandatory/technical cookies. Without these cookies, the basic services provided by the website cannot be used. These cookies are needed to manage the system and prevent fraudulent transactions, and if blocked, the website will not work.
Performance and Analytics Cookies: These are cookies that collect information such as how a website is used by the visitor, which pages are visited most often, and whether error messages are displayed. They are used to increase user-friendliness and tailor websites specifically to the individual visitor. These types of cookies collect information such as the usage pattern of the relevant website, the frequency and number of visits, and show how visitors get to the website and what behavior preferences they have within the website. The purpose of use of such cookies is to improve the functioning of the relevant website, to increase performance, to provide ease of use and to determine the general usage trends of website visitors.
Target/Advertising Cookies: These are the cookies used to present personalized advertisements to the visitor, thanks to the information collected about their browser habits. If the website has been visited before, it remembers and shares this information with other institutions and organizations. In this way, it ensures that the advertisements that are of interest reach the visitor. Although these cookies can track visits to other websites, they generally cannot identify who the visitor really is, as there is no connection between the collected data and the visitor. If these cookies are not kept, the visitor will encounter less content that fits your interests.
Cookies can be disabled/deleted. When mandatory/technical cookies are disabled, the features of the site (search engine, filtering, etc.) cannot be used.
To sum up, some kind of cookies are mandatory and good for your user experiences. It can improve your website without using any resources. Also it allows your users to personalize their preferences and make it easier depending on their choices.
