Content lockers are a popular method used by website owners to entice visitors to perform certain actions, such as subscribing to a newsletter or sharing the content on social media, in exchange for access to the locked content. In this blog post, we will explore how to implement a cookie-based content locker using JavaScript.

What is a Cookie?

A cookie is a small piece of data that is stored on a user’s computer by a website. It is commonly used to store information about the user’s browsing habits or preferences. Cookies can be accessed and modified by both the client-side (JavaScript) and server-side (backend) code.

Implementing the Content Locker

To implement a cookie-based content locker, we will need to perform the following steps:

1. Check if the cookie exists.
2. If the cookie does not exist, display the locked content and prompt the user to perform the desired action.
3. If the cookie exists, display the unlocked content.

Let’s start by checking if the cookie exists:

if (!document.cookie.includes("contentUnlocked=true")) {
    // The cookie does not exist, display the locked content and prompt the user
    document.getElementById("lockedContent").style.display = "block";
    document.getElementById("unlockButton").addEventListener("click", unlockContent);
} else {
    // The cookie exists, display the unlocked content
    document.getElementById("unlockedContent").style.display = "block";
}

In the above code, we use the includes() method of the document.cookie property to check if the cookie named “contentUnlocked” has the value “true”. If the cookie doesn’t exist, we display the locked content and add an event listener to the “unlock” button to execute the unlockContent() function when clicked. If the cookie exists, we display the unlocked content.

Next, let’s implement the unlockContent() function that will be executed when the user performs the desired action:

function unlockContent() {
    // Set the cookie with a persistence of 7 days
    document.cookie = "contentUnlocked=true; expires=" + new Date(Date.now() + 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toUTCString();

    // Hide the locked content and show the unlocked content
    document.getElementById("lockedContent").style.display = "none";
    document.getElementById("unlockedContent").style.display = "block";
}

In the unlockContent() function, we use the document.cookie property to set a cookie named “contentUnlocked” with the value “true” and an expiration date 7 days from the current time. We then hide the locked content and display the unlocked content.

Conclusion

Implementing a cookie-based content locker in JavaScript can be a useful strategy for engaging visitors and encouraging desired actions on your website. By using cookies, you can keep track of whether a user has unlocked the content before and provide a personalized experience.

Remember to always provide clear instructions or incentives for unlocking the content and ensure that your implementation complies with privacy regulations.