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08/14/2001 Archived Entry: "14-August-2001 -- Password Usability"

Password Usability (WebWord) -- "Poor password usability can ruin your web registration process. While passwords are a painful fact of life, there are ways to minimize the problems that users face. This article contains suggestions on how to best collect passwords during the registration process, and it will help you determine if you should allow users to save their passwords." (Comments: This is a guest article written for WebWord by Joshua Ledwell, a Senior Producer for Direct Marketing at Terra Lycos. Check it out!)

Replies: 3 comments

Those are very good points. Thanks for your comments.

Posted by Joshua Ledwell @ 08/16/2001 10:47 AM EST

One further key consideration, and a consequence of users preferring to use the same password at many different sites:
ensure that all characters are supported and can be used in the password. Some sites will reject full stops and other common punctuation marks, forcing users to invent a new password (which they will probably forget as it differs from their usual one)

Posted by Tom Farrell @ 08/15/2001 07:29 AM EST

I'm surprised the article didn't cover an import consideration for password usability.

When determining your required password strength, think about the result if someone were to gain unauthorized access to what is behind the password.

If someone gaining access to a user account were only able to change a user's color preferences or news sources, your requirements for password strength can be much less than if you're running a banking site.

If your online recipe file requires users to choose a password between 8-12 characters with mixed case and at least one number, then your users are less likely to register or return to the site.

Consider that for some sites, it is best to have no minimum requirements for the password.

Posted by Adam Kalsey @ 08/15/2001 01:57 AM EST

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