It’s oh-so-common these days in the web design/development world to see sites slapped together with all the default technologies because that’s convenient – it’s what people know, and few have the time or inclination to question whether that’s for the best. This is what separates a bespoke service like mine from a run-of-the-mill web developer.
Cookie banners exist as much for the developer as for you; it’s a part of the process to be “compliant” but something nobody finds fun.
It’s tedious work for those who build websites, it’s probably a stress for the client who wants to be comp-client (you’re welcome) and customers are increasingly very tired of being affronted by invasive pop-ups when using your site.
To have a cookie banner is a choice – not a compliance choice , but an architecture choice.
So, let’s start doing things differently – and get rid of them.
What Are Cookie Banners For?
Cookie banners exist to satisfy a compliance tick-box more than anything. Some may argue it gives users more agency/control over how their data is used but I reject that school of thought personally. I think if you cared about your visitors in that way, you wouldn’t stalk them anyway.
I don’t feel like the bouncer at the local bar asking my permission to slap me in the face before I enter, saying “we do it by default but you can opt out”, is very good service. At the other place down the road, they pull my chair out for me to help me sit down, and hand me the menu with a smile – I’d rather go there.
In this I believe that cookies are less a case of compliance and more of hospitality. It might be nicely worded, but “Is it okay if I slap you in the face or would you like to opt out?” isn’t substantively polite just because it was asked – it’s hostility, not hospitality, and I don’t build hostile websites.
Do I Need a Cookie Banner?
Everyone’s favourite answer: it depends.
If you work with me, though – probably not, no, because I’m very attentive to the tools I use and none of my standard ‘tech stack’ (as we designers call it) requires the use of a cookie banner on your site because it’s inert. It doesn’t set cookies, so the popup is unnecessary – there’s nothing for them to consent/reject to.
Cookie banners are required by law in the UK when you set non-necessary cookies to the user’s device. Analytics is the place where most websites cross this threshold and therefore need the banner. Other tools like social media integrations will also require one, but unlike analytics these aren’t usually necessary or nearly so important to a website. In fact, it can be better to do without the social feed entirely.
Analytics Without Cookies Are Possible:
I’m well aware that business want and need analytics. Most individuals do too. Even just for a hobby blog, it’s nice to see what’s capturing people’s interest. For commercial purposes it can help decide marketing strategy, content production, and more besides.
I offer Analytics with most of my website builds, using a privacy-respecting tool called Independent Analytics. This doesn’t set any cookies at all, so using it requires no pop-ups. Yet you still get all the perks of analytics for your site.
In some respects, it’s even better than the entrenched standard that is Google Analytics. Because visitors don’t need to accept/reject, you get data for every visit – not just the ones that “accept”.
And you avoid the need for a cookie popup (supposing the rest of your infrastructure is similarly privacy-respecting). This minimises your legal burden, and makes the experience noticeably nicer for your page visitors.