When you’re launching a new website, making sure you’re compliant with “cookie consents” and “legal policy thingies” is one of those not-urgent-but-important tasks that gets perpetually left for later.
For privacy policies, site disclaimers, and terms and conditions, you’ve got a few options: go without (that’s a bad choice), Google and grab one that may or may not be totally right for you (that’s a bad choice), or get a lawyer to draft one (that’s an expensive choice, which can lead to yet more procrastination).
ExpressionEngine does offer built-in consent functionality at a technical level, but you’re on your own in figuring out what type of approach to use with consent, nor does EE offer guidance on creating cookie and privacy policies. And while EE can spit out a list of the cookies on your site, it can’t “fill the blanks” on the purpose of non-EE cookies or how they should be categorized for consent purposes. ExpressionEngine also can’t ensure that your policies are up-to-date and reflect the latest privacy legislation requirements. In short, EE gives you all the technical tools you need to handle consent, which is great if you already know what you’re doing and have the time to set it up the way you want. But for lots of folks, consent and the legal requirements around it are tough to understand and act on—not “doing your own taxes tough,” but still.
It certainly sounds like we’re describing a big problem, doesn’t it? If only we had a solution to suggest…
Well, we do: Termly! Termly offers a range of tools that manage and solve your legal compliance needs: they’re an all-in-one online compliance solution for businesses of all sizes.
Termly’s service integrates a cookie scanner, a consent banner, and all the tools you need to comply correctly with global privacy laws like the GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA, the ePrivacy Directive (EU Cookie Law), and the UK’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) with a custom cookie consent banner and cookie policy.
And there’s even more good news: Hop Studios has worked with Termly to build a free Termly add-on for ExpressionEngine*, and it just launched.
Termly’s tools are actively developed, tested and maintained by a team of engineers, designers and data privacy attorneys. Using Termly, you no longer have to worry about being fully legally compliant, and you get all of these key features:
- Simple set up — install in seconds
- Automatic cookie scans
- Cookie consent banner templates with customizable features (including text, font, theme, and colors)
- Regional banner display options (e.g., only display for EU users)
- Translations / multi-language support
- Automatic cookie categorization based on an extensive cookie database
- Customizable cookie policies
- Auto-blocking of scripts and other tracking mechanisms
- Automatic updates to cookie policy and consent banner
- Access to additional policy, disclaimer, and terms and conditions generators
Termly’s services are likely more comprehensive and compliant than using ExpressionEngine’s tools, even for web developers that really know their stuff. And if you build websites for others, Termly is a fantastically efficient and effective way you can make sure your clients are fully addressing compliance at a fraction of the cost or time that a custom solution would take. We’re a big fan of custom software at Hop Studios, but sometimes it actually makes the most sense to acquire a solution rather than build one. We think Termly fits that bill nicely.
Give the Termly add-on a try today and tell us what you think!
* It’s worth mentioning that you can use Termly even if you aren’t running a website using ExpressionEngine.