I’d had this code sitting around for a while and decided to make a new site dedicated to it. It’s called passwds.io. It’s a simple service that produces pseudo-random passwords that have some elements that can actually be pronounced, hopefully making them easier to remember.
I do not recall where I got the original code to generate the pronounceable passwords, but am trying to find the source so I can credit where it’s deserved.
Brandon Lighter brought up the fact that I could be storing all generated passwords, but I’m not. This was developed as a tool for myself to use while I was a sys admin at a large local business, I’d use it to create new passwords for users in Active Directory. It’s still the same code.
Once I can bring the code to a level that isn’t so scattered, I will put it on GitHub so everyone can see the source and what’s going on. It’s really very, very simple.
Of course, I could omit the important “logging” piece when pushing to GitHub, but at some point people just have to trust others, and I’m flat out saying there’s no type of logging being done at passwds.io, other than the standard Google Analytics and Gaug.es for site analytics/
Brandon does bring up good points though, like no usage of special characters.
Secondly, they are only lower-case, upper-case, and numbers, which means you are pulling from a much smaller character set than you could be, making brute-force attacks easier.
I may add an option to do pronounceable passwords, or passwords with special characters enabled, which would probably break pronounceability. But options are always nice.
If you have other suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I’ve debated adding user accounts and the ability to save your generated passwords (that would be accessible only by you), but that sort of goes beyond the scope of passwds.io, which is simple, fast password password creation.
An example output from passwds.io can be seen in the screenshot below.
Also, check out Placezombie.com if you’re looking for some pretty gruesome zombie images to use as placeholder images in your designs. Sample 900×150 pixel greyscale image below, achieved with https://placezombie.com/g/900×150 :
Anyway, like I said, I’d love to hear your thoughts on passwds.io. Leave a comment here, it’s the best way to communicate with me about passwds.io. I haven’t bothered setting up passwds.io email yet.
It provides more features than Slimvoice, the drawback being that you have to host it yourself. That’s not really an issue for most of my readers, however. :) The only thing I wish Anchor had was quotes and job creation.
Because of the lack of job and quote creation, I don’t use Anchor myself. I use Ultimate Client Manager for invoicing, quote creation, and job creation. It, unfortunately, is not free. However, the guys behind Anchor, 23rd & Walnut, also have a product named Duet. Duet includes many of the features that Ultimate Client Manager has and costs $49. Upgrading from Anchor to Duet is seamless.
Anchor includes a visual invoice builder, has the ability to send PDF invoices to your clients, and allows your clients to log in to Anchor to pay their invoices using Stripe or PayPal. The reporting interface is very nice, which you can see in the screenshot below.
There’s no limit on the number of clients or invoices. It provides a very nice looking dashboard, have a look at the demo to get a feel for the entire Anchor app. Anchor is an excellent option if you’re just starting out and need something to help keep track of clients and invoices.
If you’re interested in using Anchor, have a look through the documentation and just spend some time on the Anchor homepage to get familiar with the features offered.
Anchor and Duet seriously have me considering dropping Ultimate Client Manager. :)
