Uses of Cookies
Recognizing a regular customer
- A persistent cookie can save some identification information for the particular customer. The stored information may be actual name and details, or (preferably) some key into a database on the server.
- When the customer returns to the site, associated information (mailing address, etc) is already known; it doesn’t have to be entered anew by the customer.
- There are many variations on this theme, e.g. it allows portal sites to do focussed advertising.
Session Tracking
- Within the context of a single “visit” to a site, cookies can be used as an alternative to hidden fields or URL-rewriting, as the underlying mechanism for session tracking.