 mousePremium
join:2007-03-29
australia | Password Generation and exclusion of certain letters/digits We are running a website that provides for a password forgotten service. A new password is being generated to get the customer back in. Unfortunately some of the passwords are difficult to read/interpret with certain letters/digits looking very similar (1,l,L,i,I,J,0 and O) especially depending on the font used by the recipient.
Just wondering how difficult it is to change the output for password generation to exclude those letters and digits? |
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 JAAuldeWeb DeveloperPremium,MVM
join:2001-05-09
Hagerstown, MD
kudos:3 | said by mouse:We are running a website that provides for a password forgotten service. A new password is being generated to get the customer back in. Unfortunately some of the passwords are difficult to read/interpret with certain letters/digits looking very similar (1,l,L,i,I,J,0 and O) especially depending on the font used by the recipient. Just wondering how difficult it is to change the output for password generation to exclude those letters and digits? Let me load up my telepathic interpreter.....darn, 'tis busted.  I guess you'll just have to tell us what software/language/etc is involved.
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:7 | reply to mouse
No harder than writing the password generator in the first place, except you don't put as many characters in its alphabet. |
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Reviews:
 ·VOIPo
 ·Comcast
| reply to mouse
I use an array that has all the characters that I want an initial password to have, excluding the ones in your list. Then it's a matter of randomly picking out characters from that array to build a password.
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World War II Vehicles and Advanced Squad Leader |
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 GomezExile in waitingPremium,Ex-Mod 06-11
join:2001-02-21
Atlanta, GA
1 edit | reply to mouse
Language, platform, frameworks might be useful here..
I can give you a grails 3 line solution, but have no clue if it's remotely useful. |
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 yockTFTCPremium
join:2000-11-21
Miamisburg, OH
kudos:3 | reply to mouse
This seems like the wrong solution to me. Why not simply recommend through your documentation that users use serif fonts?
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 SteveI know your IP addressConsultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
kudos:5 | said by yock:This seems like the wrong solution to me. Why not simply recommend through your documentation that users use serif fonts? Which would you rather provide tech support for:
a) forgotten-password link that avoids troublesome characters
b) "How do I change the fonts in my UnknownMail client?"
Corollary to (b): wanna teach my grandmother to change fonts on her browser? |
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 nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | said by Steve:said by yock:This seems like the wrong solution to me. Why not simply recommend through your documentation that users use serif fonts? Which would you rather provide tech support for: a) forgotten-password link that avoids troublesome characters b) "How do I change the fonts in my UnknownMail client?" Corollary to (b): wanna teach my grandmother to change fonts on her browser? Two possibilities: 1) set your display page's FONT attributes to instruct the user's browser to render a Serif-based font; and/or, 2) put instructions in to use cut-n-paste to load the temporary password into the client's connect info.
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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SteveI know your IP addressConsultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
kudos:5 | said by nixen: Two possibilities: 1) set your display page's FONT attributes to instruct the user's browser to render a Serif-based font; and/or, 2) put instructions in to use cut-n-paste to load the temporary password into the client's connect info. The former is not universally reliable, and the latter is just more stuff to support.
Friedl's rule: the best tech support is that which is not necessary
Steve
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nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | said by Steve:said by nixen: Two possibilities: 1) set your display page's FONT attributes to instruct the user's browser to render a Serif-based font; and/or, 2) put instructions in to use cut-n-paste to load the temporary password into the client's connect info. The former is not universally reliable, and the latter is just more stuff to support. If your users are still using IE5, then *ANYTHING* you do is going to be a support nightmare.
said by Steve:Friedl's rule: the best tech support is that which is not necessary Corollary: the best way to cut down on need for tech support is to install fatal auto-LARTs.
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:7 Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to Steve
Naturally, DEC was there first.
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Eq···necdotes
In 1960, DEC engineers realized that in specifying connectors on a frame, where numbers mark the card slot locations and letters mark the connectors on individual cards, some letters cause confusion. Thus the letters G, I, O, and Q were dropped to avoid confusion with C, 1, and 0. The remaining 22 letters were since known as the DEC alphabet[citation needed]. (Actually, we called it the DEC Hardware Alphabet). |
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:7 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to yock
said by yock:This seems like the wrong solution to me. Why not simply recommend through your documentation that users use serif fonts? Because it takes longer to write the documentation than to make such a trivial code change? |
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