Cookie Policy
This page explains what cookies the site uses, why, and how to control them. It complements the privacy policy, which covers data handling more broadly.
What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file that a website (or a third party loaded by it) stores in your browser. Browsers also support related technologies — local storage, session storage, IndexedDB, service-worker caches — that play a similar role. For the purposes of this policy, "cookie" covers all of these.
Categories used on this site
Strictly necessary
These keep the site working. They include the service-worker cache that stores the application shell so the page can load offline, and short-lived storage that the browser needs to render and navigate the site. Without them, parts of the site stop functioning. They are not used for tracking and cannot be disabled from the page itself; you can clear them with your browser's site-data controls.
Analytics
Google Analytics (measurement ID G-H1FWND0S6P) sets cookies (typically _ga and _ga_*) to distinguish unique visitors and count sessions. The data feeds aggregate reports about page views, devices, and approximate location. It is used to understand which guides are read, which pages are broken, and where mobile usability needs work. No file content is ever sent to analytics — only standard page-view metadata.
Advertising
The site participates in the Google AdSense advertising programme. AdSense and its measurement and ad-serving partners may set cookies in your browser to:
- Decide which ads to show, including ads personalised to your apparent interests across other sites you have visited.
- Cap how often a particular ad is shown to you.
- Measure clicks, impressions, and conversions for the advertisers buying space.
- Detect invalid traffic (for example, automated clicks).
Common cookie names in this category include those set on the doubleclick.net and googlesyndication.com domains. Google publishes the full current list and the purposes it uses them for in its advertising documentation.
Managing and opting out
Personalised ads
Visit Google Ads Settings to turn off ad personalisation across your Google account. You will still see ads on this site, but they will be less tailored.
Industry-wide opt-outs
- European visitors: Your Online Choices offers a single page to opt out of personalised advertising from many participating networks.
- U.S. and Canadian visitors: aboutads.info and optout.networkadvertising.org provide equivalent industry opt-outs.
Browser controls
Every modern browser lets you view, block, or clear cookies for a particular site. The exact menu changes between browsers and versions, but the controls live in the privacy or site-settings section. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge each let you block third-party cookies entirely, which removes most advertising cookies even where opt-out pages do not work.
Tracking-protection extensions
Browser extensions and built-in tracking protection (such as Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection or Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention) can block analytics and advertising cookies before they are set. The site is built to remain fully usable when those protections are active.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Web browsers can send a "Do Not Track" header or, more recently, a Global Privacy Control signal. There is no universal standard for how a website should respond to those signals. The site relies on the controls Google AdSense provides for opting out of personalised ads, in addition to any signals the user's browser sends to the ad network directly.
Changes
The list of cookies on the site can change when a new analytics or advertising feature is enabled, or when an existing vendor renames or retires a cookie. The "Last reviewed" date at the top of the page reflects the most recent verification.
Contact
Questions about cookie use can be sent to [email protected] with "Cookies" in the subject line.