Here's a brief tutorial on set and retrieve cookies using JavaScript. A cookie is a way you can store a tiny bit of information from a user visiting your site. The information is stored on the users computer, and thus does not require any extra server space no matter how many users you may have. See the Cookies Article in DevNotes for issues regarding the safety, and security of using cookies. They are more or less harmless.Some ways you can use cookies is to save user preferences, to customize data, or to keep track of ordering items while a user browses. Cookies can help give a personal touch to your page by remembering the information the user gave last time.

INTERNET cookies are incredibly simple, but they are one of those things that have taken on a life of their own. Cookies started receiving tremendous media attention starting February 2000 because of the Internet privacy concerns. The debate still rages on.Cookies provide capabilities that make the Web much easier to navigate. The designers of almost every major site use them because they provide a better user-experience.

Learn about session-only cookies in JavaScript, and how they can help your scripts retain information even after the page is reloaded or cleared.

If your script relies on JavaScript cookies to persist and store information for retrieval later, it's good practice to always make sure that the user's browser supports cookies first. This includes whether the browser has cookies enabled (an option in most browsers). Depending on your situation you can then either remind the user to enable cookies, or create code to handle these cases silently.