Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since browser is a little different, look at your browser’s Help Menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If users disable cookies in their browser: If you turn cookies off it will turn off some of the features of the website.
The two cookies that are used within our ecommerce website software are as follows:
1. PHPSESSID – Contains a PHP “session ID”, expires when the browser is closed
The “PHPSESSID” cookie is required so that the site can recognise the same user clicking from page to page. Without it, every page would be treated as the first visit to the site, and anything added to the shopping basket would be instantly forgotten. Online shopping would, therefore, be impossible.
2. Session – Contains a PHP “session ID”, can also contain an email address and encrypted password, expires after one year.
The “session” cookie is intended for the user’s convenience, this is created with a copy of the initial session ID so that the user can be classed as “returning” and the contents of the shopping basket will still be available. If the user signs in with an email address and password, these login details are also saved so that they can remain logged in when returning (the password is encrypted). If the user signs out, the login details are removed from the cookie.