What Are Cookies- And How They Work - Explained for Beginners!

So, chances are you've been browsing the internet and you've seen a notification like this pop up on your screen telling you that this website uses cookies. Most of the time, you just slap that agree button and go about your merry way. But you're likely here because you wanna know what exactly are cookies and how do they work? Well, it's not that sweet, artery-clogging goodness that grandma whips up in the kitchen. We're talking about website cookies, which are more formally called HTTP cookies. So, a cookie is a small piece of data from a specific website that is stored on a user's computer while they're browsing the web. And they can have many functions, such as keeping track of a user's browsing activity in order to serve up targeted information, such as ads for goods or services. This is why when you're browsing Amazon for a Halloween costume for your dog, you might see ads for more dog costumes on Facebook later that day. Cookies can also have simple functions, like remembering your login details for a specific website, such as Facebook, so that you can close out of it and then reopen it again later without having to log back in again. Cookies can also allow website owners to track exactly how many unique visitors they're getting to their website, because each cookie has its own unique ID. So, if a user visits the same website two or three times in a day, a cookie can allow us to count this as one unique viewer. So, website owners can collect more accurate data about their website traffic. So, where did the cookie come from, and how did it get its name? Well, the first cookie was invented in 1994 by a 24-year-old programmer for Netscape Communications named Lou Mantulli. He was creating an online store for a company that said that their servers were getting too full from storing each individual user's shopping cart data while they were browsing the store. So, Lou was asked to figure out a way to store each user's shopping cart data on their own computer, which would then save server space for the company and save them money. So, he thought back to an old computing token called the magic cookie, which was used to identify when somebody would log into a system by passing a tiny bit of information between the server and their computer. Lou then recreated this concept for web browsing, and thus, the modern-day cookie was born. Cookies today are still used to identify your computer, but now they have the added function of also tracking your activity, which can be very helpful or a breach in privacy depending on how the website decides to use this information, which is why you get that little notification whenever you visit a website that uses cookies because they're legally obligated to inform you in their cookie policy of what they use these cookies for. And now, for the age-old question, how does a cookie work? Well, when you visit a website for the first time, let's just say, for this example, it's an online store. The website puts a cookie on your hard drive that has its own unique identification code. The site then uses this ID to keep track of your session, the session being your overall visit on their website from start to finish. The reason it does this is to keep track of things like which items you put in your shopping cart or which items you looked at so it can suggest similar items or even save coupon codes for you that can be used later even if you close out of the website and come back to it. And they have many more functions than this, but this is just some of the most common ways. Now, a cookie is only specific to that website, meaning that they can't track you on a totally different website. Or can they? Well, there's another type of cookie called a third-party cookie, which I will explain with an example. Let's say that you're browsing around a website that has a button to like or share on Facebook embedded into it. Well, this button has to talk to facebook.com, which means that Facebook can now send their own cookies through this website in order to track your activity and then most likely serve up some targeted ads for you on your Facebook newsfeed later. It's stuff like this that push Europe to institute the GDPR, which is the General Data Protection Regulation, which allows users to opt out of the use of cookies if they so choose. But not all cookies are privacy-breaching parasites, and they will generally help you have a much more enjoyable user experience on the web and save you lots of time and headache. All right, guys, so that was a breakdown of what are cookies and how do they work. If you enjoyed this video, please hit that like button, or if you wanna get more website-related questions answered or learned how to create professional and beautiful websites from home, then consider subscribing to my channel. You won't be sorry. All right, guys, thank you for watching, and I will see you on the next video.