Remember me?

[eluser]cartalot[/eluser]
normally websites have to remember something unique to the actual person -- like you go to amazon, and it remembers what you put in your shopping cart 2 weeks ago. the only practical way to do that is with a database. the cookie does not store the cart contents, it just stores an id number.

but you could have a case that is more generic. like lets say you have a website with 5 lessons, and you want the user to know which lesson they have completed. you could write a cookie value like LessonOne = completed

then when the user comes back to the website, you do something like IF cookie value LessonOne = completed
skip to Lesson Two. for that you do not need a database.