[IanCal]

> What do you plan on using cookies for? There might be some ways of doing similar things without cookies or trackers (server-side analytics for example) that are more respective of users and also eliminiate the need for any banners at all.

For EU things you must make sure what you're doing with this aligns with consent from the user / other justifications. Whether it's server side or cookies doesn't matter for GDPR, it's the collection & use of the data.

To OP, try not to collect data at all, and if you need to then make the consent banner not block the use of the website. Also don't animate it in, just have it there.

The ICO guidance in the UK is pretty good https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-re...

Note that consent is not always the best justification for lawful processing.