mattt / Sonic-Hash

A melodic Sonification of password field input

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file README.markdown Tue Aug 18 11:34:01 -0700 2009 Adding thanks to @mediajunkie [Mattt Thompson]
file example.html Tue Aug 18 11:22:37 -0700 2009 Fixed subtitle [Mattt Thompson]
file sonic-hash.js Tue Aug 18 10:50:01 -0700 2009 Initial import [Mattt Thompson]
README.markdown

Sonic-Hash

A melodic Sonification of password field input

In a tweet: Sonic-Hash is a jQuery plugin that composes a pentatonic or octatonic melody for secure text-field values

Password entry can be frustrating, especially with long or difficult passwords. On a webpage, secure fields obscure your input with •'s, so others can't read it. Unfortunately, neither can you—you can't tell if you got your password right until you click "Log In".

Sonic-Hash attempts to solve this problem using subtle audible cues. After you finish typing your password, Sonic-Hash will take it, and construct a musical representation of it. In a registration flow where you have to enter their password twice, you can easily tell if they match by comparing the first melody to the second. Or, every time you log in, your trusty password will generate the same distinctive melody. You'll know if you messed up if you hear an unfamiliar tune.

Demo

Melodies speak louder than words:
Try it out at: http://mattt.github.com/Sonic-Hash/
Note: Requires browser with support for HTML5 , such as Safari 4, Firefox 3.5, or Chrome

Usage

$("input:password").sonicHash({notes: 4, minimum: 6, salt: "7be82b35cb0199120eea35a4507c9acf", scale: "pentatonic"});

  • notes number of notes to be played each time
  • minimum minimum number of characters; otherwise, an alert sound plays
  • salt value to be appended when calculating hash function
  • scale choose notes using a pentatonic or octatonic scale

Requirements

  • jQuery 1.3+

License

Sonic-Hash is licensed under the MIT License:

Copyright (c) 2009 Mattt Thompson (http://mattt.me/)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Credit

Sonic-Hash uses Paul Johnston's Javascript MD5 implementation, and is distributed under the BSD License
See http://pajhome.org.uk/crypt/md5 for more info

Javascript client-side WAV generation based on code by sk89q
See http://sk89q.therisenrealm.com/ for more info

Thanks to Christian Crumlish (@mediajunkie) for suggesting the use of sound for password identification.