Tuto WEBDEV 25

288 Part 7: Specific Web features What is a cookie? A cookie is an easy way to temporarily store an information on the computer of Web user. This information can be read again later by the site that created it. This allows you to avoid asking for details already supplied during a previous visit and to propose custom pages Internet A cookie has an expiration date (30 days after its creation by default). It is automatically destroyed by the browser of Web user when its lifetime is exceeded. Caution: using cookies is possible only if the browser of Web user is configured to accept cookies. A cookie is used to store on the computer of Web user various information such as the user name, the pages displayed by the user, the date of his last connection, the backup of his options, ... This information, saved in the format of cookies, will be read by the site during the next connection of Web user. Therefore, the site will be able to propose custom information to the user: • advertising banner related to subjects looked up during the last connection, • custom home page with the user name and the date of last connection, • special offers corresponding to the searches performed during the last visit, ... Remark Cookies are not encrypted when they are stored: we advise you not to use them to store sensitive information. What is a cookie made of? A cookie is a text file stored on the computer of Web user (in most cases, in the Internet "cache" of browser) during a specific duration. The cookie is created by the browser or by the server. The following elements are required to store information in a cookie: • Name of cookie, used by the site to identify the cookie. • Text of cookie, corresponding to the information written by the site: pages displayed, details supplied by the Web user, ... • Expiration date after which the cookie is not valid anymore (it will be automatically deleted). • Name of Internet domain that created the cookie.