What is offline storage?

Offline storage was introduced in HTML5. In some respects, offline storage (also commonly referred to as web storage) is similar to cookies.

Benefits of offline storage include; supported by all major web browsers, minimal code and simple call flows, plus semantic events (meaning you can pass data around 'live' between different browser windows or tabs).

However offline storage has a couple of downsides too. Performance can be very poor (when working with large or complex data structures). And unlike cookies, you cannot set a precise date or time when the stored data will expire.

So offline storage will not replace cookies anytime soon! But it is an interesting technology. It certainly can be a valuable tool for particular jobs. We will use offline storage when we introduce the web app feature for this site. The feature allows us to cache some of the most important web site pages on your device. That means when you are offline you can still access them - which is really useful for things like the actions on pages. The advantage over an app is when you go back to our site the pages update themselves. We don't record any information from your end of things.

We use a plug in called mini cookie to manage our cookies.

There are two types of offline storage supported by MiniCookie, differing in scope and duration:

• Local storage: Data that is stored indefinitely for an infinite length of time. Data can be accessed from any web browser tab or window. The data only gets deleted if you provide a button to delete it or the web browser is reset.
• Session storage: Data stored on a temporary basis, within that particular browser tab or window. The data is deleted when the session ends, like when the user closes that particular browser tab or window.

Wherever possible we opt for session storage - such as not bugging you on every page with the privacy notice. We do use some local storage (ie on your device) cookies, however they will be made clear when it is required.