Customizing your browsing experience

When you visit WRAL.com, you may not realize that behind the scenes we are customizing your browsing experience.

Posted 9:54 p.m. Feb 14, 2014 — Updated 10:06 p.m. Feb 14, 2014

When you visit WRAL.com, you may not realize that behind the scenes we are customizing your browsing experience. We do this because we realize many users come to us repeatedly for the same types of information: forecasts, specific maps and traffic commute information.

Weather: By default, when you visit the WRAL Weather page, we will show you the 7-Day Forecast for Raleigh. We also will display the current temperature and forecast icon in the upper right corner of the page. But if you type a different city in the box at the top of the page and click the blue CHANGE button, you will now get forecast and current weather information for the selected city as you move throughout the weather section. The Hourly forecast page will give you data for your selected city. The Current Conditions page is now set to the selected city. Even the graph on the Hourly page is specific to the city you entered, and that can be any city in the United States.

We also remember your map preferences. When you go to the new Map Center, we track the last map you looked at. If that was the Wake County view of DualDoppler5000, we'll show you that same map by default the next time you visit the page. Want a different view? No problem. Just pick a new map view from the drop-down menu. The last image viewed will become your new default.

The same holds true for the Maps & More block at the top of the right side of the Weather page. By default we will show you the DualDoppler5000 view of Central North Carolina. If you prefer the horizontal 7-Day Forecast, click that button and we'll show you that forecast image on subsequent visits to WRAL.com.

News: As you browse the site, a partner called Gravity anonymously records your browsing patterns in a small text file called a cookie. We then use this information to recommend stories of interest based on the content you have previously read. If you read a lot of business stories, expect to see us show you headlines from more business stories. Do you like to read education stories? We'll try to find more stories like this for you to read. These recommendations are shown on the right side of all article pages and on some others page of the website. This is very similar to what Amazon.com does when you look at items for sale on its site.

Traffic: We recognize that many people check our Traffic page to see if there are delays on their way to or from work. This means that different users will look at different parts of the map. Some may focus on the RTP. Some may look at the path between downtown and Wake Forest. Whatever your route, we'll remember the ma[ zoom level and center point that you were last viewing. When you return to the page page, you'll see that same zoom level.

As long as you have cookies enabled, we will remember all of these preferences. If you disable cookies or delete them, these preferences will be lost.

Another way to have us remember your preferences is to create an account with WRAL.com and be logged in when you set your preferences. Then when you return, we'll remember your viewing preferences as long as you are logged in. The link to "Sign In" can be found just to the left of the search box in the navigation bar.

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