Re: [gtk-list] Re: password in text entry widget

[Conrad Parker <conradp cse unsw EDU AU>]

On 28 Jun 1998 nelson-gtk@crynwr.com wrote:

> robert havoc pennington writes:
>  > 
>  > On Sat, 27 Jun 1998, matt wrote:
>  > > 
>  > > I'm thinking i want something "more guder" than that.  I want something
>  > > the user can understand
>  > > nothing showing up isn't what the user expects.
>  > > 
>  > > if there is a way to so this with visablity, then let me know.  
>  > 
>  > With visibility off you used to see nothing, but now it has stars. Gtk 1.0
>  > may not though.
> 
> Apparently it's a bit controversial.  If a shoulder-surfer can see
> stars, they can count the number of characters in your password.  That
> eliminates a lot of passwords!  Still, I prefer to see them, and
> that's how I programmed one of my own applications.

One way I've seen of providing feedback gives back a random number of
stars on each keystroke (say between 1 and 3) so that the user is aware
the password is being entered, but counting the stars provides no
information.

K.

--
Conrad Parker  conradp@cse.unsw.edu.au           
 _._                     _..  ._. _    ...__  _____ ...__           
                        o) (_//  (/_ 
      ...  _.__  ._.  .   ._/
                              http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~conradp/syre/