MiniCookie updated to version 2.0
MiniCookie has proven to be a vital stack for a lot of RapidWeaver users wanting to comply with important privacy legislation. In some instances, this stack has provided a lifeline to enable people to continue using RapidWeaver to build websites.
This stack does NOT just do pretty privacy popup messages to make your website look vaguely compliant! It is a sophisticated stack to safely quarantine third-party scripts and services. It puts website users in total control of what they want to load. Plus convenient options to view and manage tracking cookies and local storage data that your website has generated. In other words, MiniCookie ticks all the boxes!
It's called "mini" because it has a small codebase that adds very little extra weight to your webpages. MiniCookie was coded exclusively for RapidWeaver, so it works in harmony with many other stacks and knows how you prefer to build websites in RapidWeaver. It is not a pay-per-domain or subscription based service you have to keep renewing.
A video has been published here, where I walk you through the complete stages of making an average website built with RapidWeaver fully compliant with all relevant privacy laws. Starting with understanding the basics of privacy compliance and adding a privacy policy page. Then adding a MiniCookie stack as a Partial to display attractive consent popups. We deploy some conditional displays to quarantine Google Analytics tracking, YouTube embeds, Trip Advisor widgets and a map. The setup of a cookie table is demonstrated. And to complete the work, we adjust the opt-in system to use checkbox categories and comply with the more stringent German privacy laws.
MiniCookie v2 is a major update, but an update that is TOTALLY FREE for existing users. You can download and install version 2 using automatic updates in RapidWeaver or from your secure Paddle account.
Noteworthy changes in version 2 include:
Secure Cookies
Tracking cookies you create, modify or delete can now include the option of the path, domain name and a checkbox to set the cookie securely. This can limit the scope of the cookie to "secure" channels - like a specific website domain that uses HTTPS. This makes your cookies more secure and can also help users delete more stubborn cookies (like Google Analytics). It's definitely recommended that after you updated to MiniCookie v2, you go-through your websites and provide a domain name and opt to use secure cookies. Some web browsers (like Firefox) will soon start displaying messages about potentially insecure cookies.
Checkbox Consent Popups
A new multi-select consent popup. This is an expanded version of the existing consent popup. This new popup type complies with forthcoming German laws and allows the user to opt-in to different types of services - like functional cookies, social media and website analytics. Good to use in more complex websites, where you need to differentiate between different types of cookies or other services. Therefore the user has a lot more control over what they see; compared with the normal opt-in / opt-out messaging. You have the freedom to devise and add as many categories as you want.
Sentry Support
Some minor changes have been made to add support for the new Sentry password stack. MiniCookie is able to create, modify or delete your password protection cookies used by Sentry.
Save Form Data
Ability to save form data as local storage. This is a useful addition on modern contact forms, if you want users to save form data between sessions on their computer. I added this setting to assist a user of a custom purchase order form stack I made, so customers could enter common data (like their name and contact details) only the once. Thereafter, the web browser automatically enters it into the form each time.
Cookie Table Improvements
Cookie tables have been overhauled. The presentation of these tables should be improved in more frameworks and the delete buttons work harder to delete stubborn cookies (like Google Analytics). These tables remain an innovative method to provide website users with a complete, self-updating, list of all the cookies your website has set. With the addition of easy options for users to delete cookies.
Code improvements
Some quite radical changes have been made to parts of the underlying code base. You won't notice any difference in how MiniCookie looks or works. But this newer code goes some distance towards improving the overall efficiency of the stack.
If you have questions about MiniCookie, please get in contact by email. The sample project file on the website has been updated to include more examples of MiniCookie. If you like using MiniCookie, please write a review and tell others on the forums about your experiences using it.
