cookie (mmmm) question

Hello!

I have an alert box open every time one of my pages is opened, even when 
going back to it. Is there a way to make it pop up only the first time the 
page is opened (I'm sure it gets annoying)? I'm guessing a cookie would do 
this but I don't know how to make that work.

I posted my question on a javascript board and got this reply:

"  document.cookie = "string_value";

It doesn't have to really equal anything in your case it just needs
to be there.  If the user hasn't been there before they will not have
a cookie present if they have then they will.  Just test for an
empty string."

I don't know what that means! What is an empty string (or even a string)? 
Would someone elaborate please? I would greatly appreciate it!

Sherill Maddox  
wanna-be/could-be/hope-fully web designer
BeingTaylored.com (coming soon)
ShemaXod(at)aol.com (for now)
:o)

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