Gerry Kroll - 2016-01-25

Pasquale Ceres and I have developed a new block for the Welcome page. SVN 7121, SVN 7122, and SVN 7123 implement this new block.

  • SVN 7121 implements the basic block and the required language files.
  • SVN 7122 sets up the defaults for new sites, and removes the block from the configuration list for the personalized "mygedview" page.
  • SVN 7123 corrects the "Undefined variable in block_main_temp.php" error that shows up in the log file and in the page source when the Cookie Policy block is activated. The error is not visible on the Welcome page.

According to the EU "Cookie Law", all sites that have visitors resident in any EU country must display a notice to these visitors that cookies are used by the site (or not, as the case may be). The notice should describe the purpose of these cookies and also how long they live. In the case PhpGedView, cookies only live for the duration of the browser session, and are used primarily to avoid the necessity to log in again when you close PhpGedView inadvertently.

The new Cookie Policy block is optional. It's shown by default when you set up a new site or a new GEDCOM. When you're signed in with Site Admin rights, you can customize the Welcome page to add or delete this block. It should be shown in the left 2/3 of the Welcome page, preferably right at the top so that users can't miss it.

I don't use this block. I think the EU should stick its law "where the sun don't shine". However, a site that my server hosts and whose owner resides in the Netherlands DOES use the block.

The standard text displayed in this block is available in English, Italian, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. I invite French, Spanish, and Portuguese users, as well as any others not listed above, to submit corrections to the text -- I used Google Translate together with my "profound" knowledge of these languages to produce the original text, so there are probably some errors or clumsy phrasing. Italian, German, and Dutch are definitely OK.

 

Last edit: Gerry Kroll 2016-01-25