Cookie notification on public sites broken?

[pconkie]

 

Every time I visit a public facing frog site I get the cookie notification popup to accept.  Steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Close all browser windows

2. Open a browser and go here: https://froglearn.backwellschool.net/pictureseries 

3. Accept the cookie notification

4. Close all browser windows (ignoring the prompt that your changes might not be saved! what changes?!)

5. Repeat step 2.

This is on chrome browser - I haven't tried other browsers.

[Jay]

@pconkie

I have investigated this and found that Frog uses mostly "Sessions" to store data when viewing public sites on Frog which is stored on the server and not directly on the users browser which is more secure than using cookies.

This may have been changed recently by Frog in order for us to comply with the new GDPR Laws/rules and regulations. However, as this is a request for change I would suggest posting this on our Idea's portal as our Development Team regularly review the posts and look to implement the ideas with the most votes, and I have provided a link to the portal below;

link: https://ideas.frogcommunity.com/portal_session/new

Kind Regards,

Jay 

 

[adamw]

43 minutes ago, pconkie said:

 

Every time I visit a public facing frog site I get the cookie notification popup to accept.  Steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Close all browser windows

2. Open a browser and go here: https://froglearn.backwellschool.net/pictureseries 

3. Accept the cookie notification

4. Close all browser windows (ignoring the prompt that your changes might not be saved! what changes?!)

5. Repeat step 2.

This is on chrome browser - I haven't tried other browsers.

Ironically, accepting cookies will set a cookie, which is checked whenever you visit the site. Once you've accepted it once, that message should no longer appear. The fact that it does for you suggests that your browser is clearing the cookies when you close it down. Can you check your cookie settings in Chrome and see if that is the case?

 

[pconkie]

1 minute ago, adamw said:

Ironically, accepting cookies will set a cookie, which is checked whenever you visit the site. Once you've accepted it once, that message should no longer appear. The fact that it does for you suggests that your browser is clearing the cookies when you close it down. Can you check your cookie settings in Chrome and see if that is the case?

 

I'll check for you but......I have since tried on my iPhone and the same thing happens.....

[pconkie]

Nothing unusual here?

[adamw]

Odd that it seems to be affecting you, when I visit the link you provided it shows me the message once - I accept it then close the browser down. When I re-open and go back to that link, It doesn't ask me again. I'm also using Chrome. 

Since your link is public, perhaps we can call on any others who may be reading this to see if they get the same issue when they visit that site?

[Jay]

@pconkie

Hi Paul,

I have been able to recreate the issue that you are experiencing as the accept button for Cookies will re-appear when you close down all browsers and reopen the browser and open the site again.

This looks to be expected behavior of Frog and the public sites used within Frog as these "Public" sites mostly use "Session Cookies" which these types of cookies only retain information about a user's activities for as long as they are on the website, meaning that once the web browser is closed, the cookies are deleted. 

If you have any issues please let me know.

Kind Regards,

Jay 

[pconkie]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

@pconkie

Hi Paul,

I have been able to recreate the issue that you are experiencing as the accept button for Cookies will re-appear when you close down all browsers and reopen the browser and open the site again.

This looks to be expected behavior of Frog and the public sites used within Frog as these "Public" sites mostly use "Session Cookies" which these types of cookies only retain information about a user's activities for as long as they are on the website, meaning that once the web browser is closed, the cookies are deleted. 

If you have any issues please let me know.

Kind Regards,

Jay 

Thanks for that @Jay

:Lets say a school uses frog to host their external school website.  I don't think it is 'expected behaviour' for parents and other visitors to that site to have to accept the cookie notification each visit.  I can not think of any other website in the world where this is the expected behaviour?  Please can we look into making a change so that the cookie accept button actually sets a cookie to prevent the notification from reappearing. @Graham Quince what do you think?

[Jay]

@pconkie

The reason for this is due to Frog storing these sessions on the server and not directly on the visitors browser. The main difference between a session and a cookie is that session data is stored on the server, whereas cookies store data in the visitor's browser. Sessions are more secure than cookies as it is stored in server. I would imagine this would be more of a request for change rather than an issue regarding Frog. 

@Graham Quince can you provide any further clarity on this? 

 

[pconkie]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

@pconkie

The reason for this is due to Frog storing these sessions on the server and not directly on the visitors browser. The main difference between a session and a cookie is that session data is stored on the server, whereas cookies store data in the visitor's browser. Sessions are more secure than cookies as it is stored in server. I would imagine this would be more of a request for change rather than an issue regarding Frog. 

@Graham Quince can you provide any further clarity on this? 

 

Hi Jay

Yes, I think it is a request for a change.  This way public sites in frog will be aligned with the rest of the world.

Are we 100% sure it isn't a bug? I think I remember a time when the cookie notification worked correctly in frog public sites?

[Graham Quince]

21 hours ago, Jay said:

@pconkie

The reason for this is due to Frog storing these sessions on the server and not directly on the visitors browser. The main difference between a session and a cookie is that session data is stored on the server, whereas cookies store data in the visitor's browser. Sessions are more secure than cookies as it is stored in server. I would imagine this would be more of a request for change rather than an issue regarding Frog. 

@Graham Quince can you provide any further clarity on this? 

 

Don't put the blame on me for this

I will have a chat to the product and QA teams and find out if this is expected behaviour.