Things I learned while signing up for Bluehouse
by Volker Weber
In three easy steps:
- Type a valid password. The password must be 8 characters or more.
- Type a valid password. Your password should contain at least one non-alpha character.
- Type a valid password. Your password can't include the part of your emailaddress.
Comments
Oh, nightmare...
While it is none of my business to suggest that these people do so, lots of outfits seem to make use of a common set of (presumably public domain) access control routines that do this kind of thing; giving users no help in choosing a password, but frustrating their choice at every turn.
I am forever tripping over this familiar nonsense, which was thoughlessly programmed in the first place, and not reviewed or questioned by the people who make use of it.
Of course it could be said that Windows AD does something similar, just complaining that new passwords don't come up to the expected standard, while not explaining what that standard is....
Perhaps you first should read the Quick start FAQ:
>>
What are the password rules?
* The password must contain at least 8 characters.
* The password must contain at least 1 non-alphabetic character, such as a number.
* The password cannot contain parts of your user name or e-mail address.
* Passwords can expire based on a security setting that is controlled by the account owner or an account administrator. If this setting is enabled, then you will have to reset your password periodically based on the rules mentioned above.
>>
Users don't like passwords. Admins don't like users.
Writers don't like reading FAQs.
Neither do developers, admins, consultants, or just about anyone ;-)
My recommendation: Use 1Password´s strong password generator and let it store it for you, so you never have to even remember it (except when using a third parties computer, which you probably wouldn´t do anyway). Works terrific on your iPhone(s) as well.
A good alternative is PwdHash.
Looks nice. Then I tried to start a meeting and was reminded to downgrade my browser. And I wasn't even using Safari yet. 2008's almost over & done with - I'm not asking Safari be considered a popular browser but at least support Firefox ...
You can't use this thing without reading the FAQ that Michael mentioned. Three browsers are supported:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and 7 on Windows XP and Windows Vista
Mozilla Firefox 2.0 on Windows XP and Windows Vista
Firefox 3 is too advanced. :-)
I also learned how to login:
Yes, that is also in the FAQ. I was just wondering how hard it is to write: "Email address" instead of "Username" so that you don't have to learn that your email address IS your username. Which you can't change.
Just a reminder, this is beta software folks....
(Yes, I know they "should" have these things sorted, but that's what a beta program is for, and as we know already, Volker is great at spotting the issues that the rest of us just accept and move on).
No better time to challenge Lotus as when they are still in beta.
