Adactio: Links

Password Tips From a Pen Tester: Common Patterns Exposed

I’ve been wondering about this for quite a while: surely demanding specific patterns in a password (e.g. can’t be all lowercase, must include at least one number, etc.) makes it easier to crack them, right? I mean, you’re basically providing a ruleset for brute-forcing.

Turns out, yes. That’s exactly right.

When employees are faced with this requirement, they tend to:

Choose a dictionary word or a name

Make the first character uppercase

Add a number at the end, and/or an exclamation point

If we know that is a common pattern, then we know where to start…

UX In Contact Forms: Essentials To Turn Leads Into Conversions — Smashing Magazine

The answers to these questions about forms are useful for just about any website:

Is It OK To Place A Form In Two Columns?

Where Should Labels Be Placed?

Can We Use Placeholder Text Instead Of A Label?

How To Lessen The Cognitive Load Of A Form?

Are Buttons Considered Part Of A Form’s UX?

Is It Possible To Ease The Process Of Filling A Form?

Does The User’s Location Influence A Form’s UX?

Constellation

Language conjures the world into being.

Just type stuff.

100 words, 100 days.

When I did my 100 days project, I found it really challenging. I’m so impressed that Amber has managed to do this: she wrote exactly 100 words every day for 100 days.

10,000 words, 10 megawords, 100 h-entries of hand-written HTML:

I can’t believe I have written ten thousand words. If I were to read everything out it would take me almost an hour. Yet, one hundred words seems like such a small amount. An amount that only takes a few minutes to write.

Joe Coleman

Joe’s site is very clever …but is it as clever as Jon’s?

Fullstopnewparagraph — Freelance copywriter | London

Jon’s site is very clever …but is it as clever as Joe’s?

Password Rules Are Bullshit

And here’s another reason why password rules are bullshit: you’re basically giving a list of instructions to hackers—the password rules help them narrow down the strings they need to brute force.

Let them paste passwords - NCSC Site

Ever been on one of those websites that doesn’t allow you to paste into the password field? Frustrating, isn’t it? (Especially if you use a password manager.)

It turns out that nobody knows how this ever started. It’s like a cargo cult without any cargo.

DiceWARE

This is a wonderful service! Handcrafted artisanal passwords made with a tried and trusted technique:

You roll a die 5 times and write down each number. Then you look up the resulting five-digit number in the Diceware dictionary, which contains a numbered list of short words.

That’s the description from the site’s creator, Mira:

Please keep in mind when ordering that I am a full-time sixth grade student with a lot of homework.

She’s the daughter of Julia Angwin, author of Dragnet Nation.

Shuffleboard At McMurdo (Idle Words)

Maciej’s first report from Antarctica is here. Put the kettle on and settle in for a grand read.

How Literature Became Word Perfect | New Republic

An engaging look at the history of word processing, word processed by Josephine Livingstone.

what3words | Addressing the world

In this English language alternative to latitude and longitude coordinates, the Clearleft office is located at:

cross.rooms.quick

mortenjust/cleartext-mac: A text editor that only allows the top 1000 most common words in English

This could pair up nicely with the most dangerous writing app.

Atomic Classification | Trent Walton

There is one truism that has been constant throughout my career on the web, and it’s this: naming things is hard.

Trent talks about the strategies out there for naming things. He makes specific mention of Atomic Design, which as Brad is always at pains to point out, is just one way of naming things: atoms, molecules, organisms, etc.

In some situations, having that pre-made vocabulary is perfect. In other situations, I’ve seen it cause all sorts of problems. It all depends on the project and the people.

Personally, I like the vocabulary to emerge from the domain knowledge of the people on the project. Building a newspaper website? Use journalism-related terms. Making a website about bicycles? Use bike-related terms.

Most importantly, make the naming process a collaborative exercise, as outlined by Alla and Charlotte.

The web – by its very nature – foregrounds the connections between different clusters of knowledge. Links link. One article leads to another. As you make the journey from destination to destination, all inevitably connected by that trail of links, you begin to tease out understanding.

It’s this drawing together, this weaving together of knowledge, that is the important part. Your journey is unique. The chances of another pursuing the same path, link by link (or book by book), is – statistically – impossible. Your journey leads you to discovery and, through reflection, comprehension. You see the connections others haven’t, because your journey is your own.

Use the words normal people use

When you’re struggling to write something that sounds clear and sounds human (two of the essential basics of a good blog post, I’d argue), just use the words normal people would use. The best way to find out what those words are is to try talking the thing through to someone who doesn’t know anything about it. Remember what you just said, then write that.

Tags: words

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