In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about cookies: what they are, where they\u2019re used, and why we use them (and not eat them).<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll also explain why we need to be able to use cookies with\u00a0WordPress and we’ll finish up with how to manually set, get and delete cookies from your WordPress site.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get snacking<\/span> cracking!<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we\u2019re going to cover today:<\/p>\n Though their use is pretty much omnipresent across the web, the average user tends to know little about what cookies are and how they’re used. Let’s walk through some basics to get up to speed.<\/p>\n A cookie is a small file browsers use\u00a0to store information about a user’s interaction with a site. They’ll typically be used to persistently store various types of session data. The Guardian<\/a> has a great no-nonsense overview of cookies which you can enjoy below.<\/p>\n IPQhME1UYQU<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A session is kind of like a digital ID card; each time when you visit a website you’ll be assigned one for the duration of your visit and it\u00a0will be used to identify you during your time on the site.\u00a0Sessions are unique to users.<\/p>\n There are many valid reasons for using a combination of sessions and cookies to track user behavior and store info. Here are some common scenarios:<\/p>\n Like their real-world counterparts, cookies come in different flavors:<\/p>\n Those of you who don\u2019t like the concept of a website storing personal information about you might be wondering whether any of this is even legal?<\/p>\n The European Union has taken a stand on the issue in the form of EU Directive 2009\/136\/EC<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0you’ll usually hear the relevant details referred to as the EU Cookie Law<\/a>. To cut a long story short, the legislation says that sites in Europe must ask visitors for their consent before installing certain types of cookies.<\/p>\n Outside of Europe, the question of exactly how you can use cookies as a site owner is largely at your own discretion but the recent kerfuffle over increasingly aggressive user monitoring by advertisers<\/a> shows that users are increasingly wary about how they’re tracked.<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to see if your site or another is saving cookies in your browser, follow this simple procedure (for Chrome):<\/p>\n Go to Settings<\/strong> and then click Show advanced settings…<\/strong>\u00a0In the “Privacy” section click on Content Settings<\/strong>. A modal will display giving you options for how you want to store cookies on your site. Leave as is and go to\u00a0All cookies and site data<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The next window will display the cookies that\u00a0your browser has currently saved.<\/p>\n Let’s take a closer look at the information saved in the In this case, it’s a simple record of whether a popup window has already been shown to a user so they don’t need to be continually bothered by it.<\/p>\n Let’s turn our attention now to cookies in a WordPress context.<\/p>\n WordPress does not use sessions by default<\/a>. It displays the same behavior regardless of the user navigating the site. It stores a cookie for user authentication when you (or your staff) login to the site\u2019s backend but that\u2019s just about it.<\/p>\n Being pretty much stateless, WordPress itself will not give you the functionality to create shopping carts using cookies or retrieve visitors\u2019 personal data via cookie to improve user experience \u2013 it\u2019s got a lot of things going for it out of the box, but cookies just aren\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n It’s important to note here that WordPress itself does not maintain sessions but many plugins or themes you may have activated almost certainly do. So, if you found some of your WordPress site\u2019s cookies saved in your browser, chances are it was implemented by one of these.<\/p>\n Let’s move on to manually creating, retrieving and deleting cookies.<\/p>\n Before we jump into the code, there are a few things you should know first:<\/p>\n We’re doing it this way to keep things simple and for explanatory purposes. In a production environment, there are several excellent reasons for not using functions.php<\/em><\/a> to do this sort of thing.<\/p>\n To set cookies in WordPress, you have to pass in the values that you want to store. For instance, if you\u2019d like to store your visitor\u2019s username, you might add this code snippet to the functions.php<\/em> file:<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
Cookies Explained<\/h2>\n
What Are Cookies?<\/h3>\n
What Are Sessions?<\/h3>\n
Why Use Cookies and Maintain Sessions?<\/h3>\n
\n
Types of Cookies<\/h3>\n
\n
Laws Governing the Use of Cookies<\/h3>\n
Is My Site Using Cookies?<\/h3>\n
![\"Go](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/content-settings3.png\")
popup_signup_completely<\/code>\u00a0variable for the wpmudev.com cookie:<\/p>\n![\"Among](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/cookies-and-site-data.png\")
Why Do We Need Cookies in WordPress?<\/h2>\n
Cookie Manipulation in WordPress<\/h2>\n
\n
How to Set Cookies<\/h3>\n