Ty the Web Guy

Everything Web™ Since 1995

Ty Cahill

25 Most Popular Passwords of 2015

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Every year, SplashData complies a list of the millions of stolen passwords made public throughout the last twelve months, and sorts them by popularity. Results from 2016 (below) are based on more than 2 million leaked passwords and highlights one of the largest problems in online security: weak, easy to guess passwords. Yes, “123456″ and “password” are still in the list. As we continue to move our lives online, it’s time for everyone to get serious about creating strong passwords.

  1. 123456 (Unchanged)
  2. password (Unchanged)
  3. 12345678 (Up 1)
  4. qwerty (Up 1)
  5. 12345 (Down 2)
  6. 123456789 (Unchanged)
  7. football (Up 3)
  8. 1234 (Down 1)
  9. 1234567 (Up 2)
  10. baseball (Down 2)
  11. welcome (New)
  12. 1234567890 (New)
  13. abc123 (Up 1)
  14. 111111 (Up 1)
  15. 1qaz2wsx (New)
  16. dragon (Down 7)
  17. master (Up 2)
  18. monkey (Down 6)
  19. letmein (Down 6)
  20. login (New)
  21. princess (New)
  22. qwertyuiop (New)
  23. solo (New)
  24. passw0rd (New)
  25. starwars (New)

So how do we create strong passwords that are harder to crack? Common sense certainly plays a leading role, but here are some quick guidelines for stronger passwords.

Remove the WWW!

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There are some very strong SEO benefits to standardizing the links to your website by removing the “www” from your URLs:

  • Preventions Google search engine penalties for duplicate content
  • Less bandwidth usage if you have many links per page
  • Shorter URLs

Removing the WWW from your page URLs can be done in your .htaccess file so you won’t have to go to every page of your website and remove the “www” from your links. But going forward, it’s best to never use the WWW in your links or marketing material, since the .htaccess file will create a redirect, and limiting the number of redirects is always a good thing.

The .htaccess Code

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^domain.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://domain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

And if you’d prefer to use “www” in all of your URLs, you can use this code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.domain.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Don’t forget to replace the “domain.com” text with your domain name! :-)

Why Google Wants Your Website Mobile-Friendly

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Approximately 518 words, estimated read time: 2 minutes

On February 26, 2015, Google announced they will be expanding their use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. The Internet quickly filled with headlines like these:

  • “Google to start penalizing non-mobile blogs on April 21″
  • “Google to Businesses: You Have Until April 21st to Get Mobile Friendly“
  • “Is Your Website Optimized For Mobile? You Have Until April 21 To Get It Done”
  • “Mobile-Friendly Sites to Rank Better on Google Starting April 21″

Many people who build websites (not necessarily “web professionals”) quickly jumped on the bandwagon to tell businesses that the sky is falling and it’s time to redesign their websites to be mobile-friendly. Some are preaching responsive web design, while others will sell you a second, mobile version of your website. Regardless, they’re happy to sell you a quick fix to your mobile problem. But just how serious is all this?

Before we go any further, please go read the official announcement from Google for yourself. It’s a short, quick read (approximately 339 words, estimated read time: 1½ minutes). I’ll wait for you…

Okay, now let’s get down to the facts.

Google has always had the mission to provide quality, relevant search results. If you’re searching for a local plumber, Google wants to give you a list of local plumbers. Starting April 21, if you’re searching for a local plumber on your mobile phone, Google wants to make your life a bit easier by showing you search results that are optimized for your phone. Google has hundreds of “signals” used to weed out garbage websites from the quality, legitimate ones. Mobile-friendliness has been one of those signals for a long time, but now Google is expanding the use of that signal for searches that take place on mobile devices.

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

Nowhere does Google say they’ll be penalizing websites that are not mobile-friendly. And nowhere does Google say your mobile-friendly website will rank higher–they don’t make those promises. Google makes it very clear what they’re doing: “…users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.” They even provide links to tools that help website owners get their websites mobile-friendly.

So this announcement isn’t really a big deal?

Well, it’s extremely rare for Google to announce changes to their algorithm in advance, and their announcement is telling us it will have “a significant impact” for search results on mobile devices. With many websites seeing over 30% of their visitors arriving on mobile devices, it just makes sense to have a site that works well for mobile devices. But remember, a mobile-friendly website does not guarantee good ranking on Google or any other search engine. Understand what’s really happening and make smart, strategic decisions about how to improve your website. And always partner with a reputable web professional who has the experience and understanding of what’s really happening.

AngularJS

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What is AngularJS?

AngularJS is a JavaScript framework for building rich, extensible web applications. It runs on plain JavaScript and HTML, so you don’t need anything else to make it work, and it is CSS-agnostic so you can use whatever CSS framework/methodology you want when designing your Angular application. You can run Angular alongside other frameworks and libraries, like jQuery and Handlebars, and it works well with Internet Explorer 8.0 (using Angular 1.2.28).

Resources for Learning AngularJS

Authentication (not sure how good these are)

.NET Articles

More (not sure how good these are)

Death by Caffeine

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starbucksI recently read an article saying that people who consume 450mg or more of caffeine every day have increased odds of death, and a bunch of other bad health concerns. I wasn’t too worried, but that all changed last night. I walked in to my local Starbucks and before ordering my regular Vanilla Latte, I checked the caffeine content. 150mg. That seemed okay, until I noticed that a Venti cup of regular brewed coffee at Starbucks is 450mg. I usually drink two cups of coffee a day at that size! That doesn’t count the 45mg for every 12oz. of Diet Coke I drink, and most cups at fast food restaurants hold twice that amount.

So I changed my order for the evening and got a Tall Decaf Skinny Vanilla Latte, which weighs in around 15mg of caffeine and actually seemed to taste better.

That article about limiting caffeine to 450mg was something I read online a while back, and I did some additional quick research on the subject that you can read below.

Stay healthy!

Diet Coke is considered moderate in caffeine, at 45mg. Diet Coke is the number 2 selling soft drink, right behind regular Coke with 34mg of caffeine. (Source: Caffeine Informer.) Find the caffeine content of many popular drinks in the Caffeine Database.

10 Things You Might Not Know About Caffeine

  • Decaf isn’t the same as caffeine free.
  • Caffeine starts working in just minutes.
  • But it doesn’t affect everyone the same way.
  • Energy drinks often don’t have more caffeine than coffee.
  • Dark roast coffees actually have less caffeine than lighter roasts.
  • Caffeine can be found naturally in more than 60 plants.
  • Not all coffee has the same amount of caffeine.
  • The average American consumes about 200 mg of caffeine a day.
  • But we’re far from being the country that consumes the most.
  • You can find caffeine in more than just drinks.

Find the full article on The Huffington Post.

15 Harmful Effects of Caffeine

  1. More than 4 cups of coffee linked to early death.
  2. Caffeine consumption may raise blood pressure in those already suffering from hypertension.
  3. Caffeine linked to gout attacks.
  4. Caffeine could cause incontinence.
  5. Caffeine may cause insomnia.
  6. Caffeine can cause indigestion.
  7. Caffeine can cause headaches.
  8. Caffeine could reduce fertility in women.
  9. Caffeine may not be healthy for type 2 diabetics.
  10. Caffeine Overdose.
  11. Caffeine Allergies.
  12. Caffeine causes more forceful heart contractions.
  13. Worse Menopause Symptoms.
  14. Caffeine consumption can lead to increased anxiety, depression and the need for anxiety medication.
  15. Caffeine increases the amount of sugary beverages consumed by people.

More about the harmful effects of caffeine is here.

Top 10 Energy Drink Side Effects

  1. Palpitations / tachycardia
  2. Tremor / shaking
  3. Agitation / restlessness
  4. Gastrointestinal upset
  5. Chest pain / ischaemia
  6. Dizziness / syncope
  7. Paraesthesia (tingling or numbing of the skin)
  8. Insomnia
  9. Respiratory distress
  10. Headache

More information about each of these top 10 can be found here.

Common Caffeine Side Effects

  • diarrhea
  • dizziness
  • fast heartbeat
  • hyperglycemia, including blurred vision, drowsiness, dry mouth, flushed dry skin, fruit-like breath odor, increased
  • urination, ketones in urine, loss of appetite, nausea, stomachache, tiredness, troubled breathing, unusual thirst, or
  • vomiting (in newborn babies)
  • hypoglycemia, including anxious feeling, blurred vision, cold sweats, confusion, cool pale skin, drowsiness, excessive
  • hunger, fast heartbeat, nausea, nervousness, restless sleep, shakiness, or unusual tiredness or weakness (in newborn
  • babies)
  • irritability, nervousness, or severe jitters (in newborn babies)
  • nausea (severe)
  • tremors
  • trouble in sleeping
  • vomiting

See the full list here.

Website Mockup Tools

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Balsamiq Mockups
a rapid wireframing tool that helps you Work Faster & Smarter. It reproduces the experience of sketching on a whiteboard, but using a computer. Making mockups is fast. You’ll generate more ideas, so you can throw out the bad ones and discover the best solutions.
Desktop: $79; Web Subscription: $12/mo.
http://balsamiq.com/

InVision
Quickly transform your designs into beautiful, fully interactive prototypes complete with gestures, transitions & animations for web, iOS & Android.
Free for a single project. Paid accounts start at $15/mo.
http://www.invisionapp.com/

UXPin
Inspired UX Design is tough with uninspired user experience design tools. That’s why UXPin is handcrafted to be robust and elegant.
Starting at $15/mo.
https://www.uxpin.com/

Mockingbird
An online tool that makes it easy for you to create, link together, preview, and share mockups of your websit or application. More polished appearance than Balsamiq’s rough sketch.
Starts at $9/mo for two active projects.
https://gomockingbird.com/

MockFlow WireframePro
A web-based tool to design and collaborate user interface blueprints for websites and apps. Its helps to visualize the website’s interface, navigation and structure in short time.
Free for one project. Starts at $14/mo. for paid accounts.
http://mockflow.com/

OmniGraffle
For creating precise, beautiful graphics. Like website wireframes, an electrical system design, a family tree, or mapping out software classes. For artists, designers, casual data-mappers, and everyone in-between.
Mac starting at $99.99. iPad $49.99.
http://www.omnigroup.com/omniGraffle/

Gliffy
Create professional-quality flowcharts, Org charts, UML diagrams, Network diagrams,
Wireframes, Technical drawings and more. Gliffy works directly in your browser!
Free.
https://www.gliffy.com/

Pen and Paper
Yes. An actual pen, and some real made-from-wood paper. It’s often fast and easy to get your ideas down on paper first and refine them in software later. :-)