Michael Jay Lissnerhttps://michaeljaylissner.com/2010-03-13T18:28:28-08:00Designing the Final Project2010-03-13T18:28:28-08:00Mike Lissnertag:michaeljaylissner.com,2010-03-13:posts/2010/03/13/designing-the-final-project/<p>Over the past week, I’ve been working to create scrapers for each of the 13
federal appeals courts. Last night I finally finished the last of them,
so today I’m moving on to the design of the site. Design is always much
better when people work in a team, so I’m putting these designs here so
others can look at them and give me feedback. Please, please do!</p>
<p>So far, I’ve sketched out four of the major pages that the site will have. A
user’s will begin using the site on its homepage. Here,
they will be given few options. Basically, they can login,
register for an account, make a search, or read one of the ancillary pages
such as the “About” or “Privacy” page:</p>
<p><img alt="No alt" src="/images/final-project/1.jpeg" /></p>
<p>Also, note the advanced button under the search field. When this is
clicked, it expands to show the advanced search queries that the site will
support, as you can see on the next page.</p>
<p>If people are logged in, their homepage becomes the “Create new alert page,
” which you can see below. For now, this allows users to create very
complicated queries by hand. In the future, it would be nice to build their
queries for them. By default, the advanced section will be collapsed,
but in the wire frame, I sketched it out. Also, if users click on “More
details,” (in the bottom-right of the “Advanced” box) they can get
explanations and examples of all the connectors shown.</p>
<p><img alt="No alt" src="/images/final-project/2.jpeg" /></p>
<p>From that page, they would normally be redirected to their settings page,
where their alerts are listed. Here, they can edit and see their alerts.</p>
<p><img alt="No alt" src="/images/final-project/4.jpeg" /></p>
<p>Clicking the “Edit” button takes a user back to the “create alert” page,
except that it will be pre-filled with the alert they’re trying to edit. </p>
<p>Of course, users can also edit their profile by clicking on the settings
link on the top of every page . This page isn’t too special,
though it does have a couple unusual features, such as the bar memberships
the user is a part of and whether they prefer <span class="caps">HTML</span> or plain text emails (not
shown in the below version - sorry).</p>
<p><img alt="No alt" src="/images/final-project/3.jpeg" /></p>
<p>And that’s it for now. I’d <span class="caps">LOVE</span> any feedback anybody has on these. Typing
this up, I’ve already come across a couple problems:</p>
<ul>
<li>Users currently get to their alerts by clicking settings - that ain’t intuitive.</li>
<li>The about page is pretty hard to find. It may need more emphasis.</li>
</ul>
<p>I’m sure there are more problems I’m not seeing. That’s why I need your help
. What am I missing? What should I change? What’s stupid? What’s outmoded?</p>More Security Papers: Breaking ReCAPTCHA and Proactive Methods for Secure Design2009-12-12T12:07:58-08:00Mike Lissnertag:michaeljaylissner.com,2009-12-12:posts/2009/12/12/more-security-papers-breaking-recaptcha-and-proactive-methods-for-secure-design/<p>Two more security papers today. </p>
<p>In the first, <a href="https://michaeljaylissner.com/pdfs/breaking-recaptcha.pdf"><strong>Breaking ReCAPTCHA</strong></a> I discuss a few methods that
ReCAPTCHAs can be hacked, and talk a bit about the ways that they were
attacked by the Anonymous hacker group. I should mention at the outset that
none of the approaches here are particularly useful though,
and that ultimately, the hacker group beat ReCAPTCHA by simply out
numbering it.</p>
<p><a href="https://michaeljaylissner.com/pdfs/proactive-security.pdf">The <em>second paper</em></a> is a brief discussion of some approaches an
organization might take when beginning a project in which security is a
high concern. Essentially, it takes a chronological approach,
from the start to the end of the project. </p>
<p>Enjoy.</p>