Dodge Web Solutions

When IT Tells You to Change Your Password…

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So great news, guys!  Sort of!  Turns out changing your password every [specific period of time] is no longer necessary.  Bill Burr (not this guy) the man who first authored the new password standards and protocols for NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) in 2003.

An excerpt:

“Another recommendation is to favor long phrases, rather than short passwords with special characters. There should no longer be a requirement to have a certain mix of special characters, upper case letters and numbers for a password. It turns out that adding in these artificial password restrictions actually produced less secure passwords. Additionally (and unsurprisingly), the guidelines recommend screening passwords against commonly used passwords or ones that have been compromised.”

Basically, just think up an answer to a question only you’d know (eg, didwegetliceinneworleans) and you’re pretty much set.  But probably you should read the actual NIST publication, not my quick recap of it.  And no, we did not, one of us just had bad dandruff.

Great Combo – WP and Government

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You guys all know I love WordPress, of course.  And, I guess this sounds weird or old-school, but I also really believe in our government and the people who work for it.  And then I saw this combination: WordPress for Government!

I think this could be a great way for us as taxpayers to save money.  A site built on WordPress (or I would say, any of the open source CMS’s) it usually less expensive than a bespoke site, and can often fill your requirements just as effectively.  Atilus.com has a “large business” website costing anywhere from $15,000-$100,000.  I assumed a smaller federal agency or large city’s website would cost at least this much, if not a great deal more.  However, by one estimate, the Obamacare site, which was widely criticized, cost approximately $515,000,000.  Yes, $515 million.  Also, it was built by a Canadian company.  I know of several  American web designers who would be thrilled to make a website that didn’t work, for just 1/10th of that money.

It would challenge gov’t to bring their workers up to speed on the Web (not to paint all federal or state employees with the same brush, but some branches of gov’t have the reputation of being a little behind, technically).  But if they take the step into using a CMS like WordPress, I think the inevitable next step is for any bureau or department to begin taking more ownership and agency in managing their own web presence.  Websites need to be living things, constantly updated and interacting with their target community.  More and more government-citizen interaction is taking place online (because Microsoft).  And a site made on WordPress is easy to update!

I am hopeful this will help make our government’s web presences (city, state and local) more nimble and affordable, while starting to development a deeper bench of website management experience among employees.  What do you think?

Slowly But Surely, Government IT Enters the 21st Century

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Apologies to Arstechnica, since I borrowed the title from their article, a cheerful discussion of some of the great apps and sites for citizens to get help, speak their minds, or just find their bus.  I would like to write today instead about the US Web Design Standards, released in September, for all federal websites and organizations.  Per infotoday.com: “…now the federal government as a whole has a single set of rules to establish not only a common visual style, but also guidelines that provide for easier navigation and standardized terminology.”

The Atlantic quotes U.S. Digital Service Designer Mollie Ruskin talking about their goals in setting these standards: “…our aim was to create an aesthetic both on par with 21st-century consumer products, while also capturing a distinctly American style that places a premium on simplicity and usability.” Unfortunately, the Atlantic could not resist pointing out that Canada and England have been doing it better all along, style-wise.

Well, I happen to love my country and found little nuggets of patriotism such as “CSS selectors are prefixed with usa (For example: .usa-button)” heartwarming and uplifting.  USA!USA!USA!

All kidding aside, this is a good step in the right direction for our federal government, making it easier for our many different agencies to have the same look and feel, and increase ease of use for users citizens visiting their sites.