Cookies are small simple text files which are stored on your device (computer, tablet, smartphone etc) when you visit a website. They are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user's device. Cookies are used by most modern websites, and in many cases are essential for the operation of the website. In particular, they are used to allow the website to "remember" you, either for a single visit, as you move from one web page to another within the site ("session cookies"), or for repeat visits, so that you are "recognised" when you visit the website again from the same device ("persistent cookies"). Another common use is to provide information to owners of the site about which pages have been visited, how long visitors have spent on a particular page, and so on.
We have categorised the cookies used on this website based on the categories outlined in the International Chamber of Commerce's UK Cookie guide (PDF link). You may also find the information at www.aboutcookies.org helpful.
These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around a website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of a site. A cookie of this type (a so-called PHP session cookie) is used to "remember" your acceptance of this policy and to facilitate the updating of the website using a content management system.
These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they receive error messages from web pages. These cookies do not collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works. Web analytics that use cookies to gather data to enhance the performance of a website fall into this category. Cookies of this type are used by Google's popular Analytics system, which the Alec Williams website uses to gather anonymous aggregated information about how the website is used.
These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. For instance, a website may be able to provide you with local weather reports or traffic news by storing in a cookie the region in which you are currently located. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. Cookies of this type are used to remember your acceptance of this cookie policy and to provide the option to switch between "mobile" and "desktop" versions of the site.
The Share button near the top right of every page on the site enables visitors quickly to share a particular page on various social media. The use of these buttons by our visitors does not provide alecwilliams.co.uk with any information by which they can be identified. The third-party social media services (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc) to which these buttons are linked have their own privacy and cookie policies concerning the use of information which they may or may not gather from the presence of these buttons on our pages, and you are encouraged to acquaint yourself with these policies via the third parties' own websites.