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April 11, 2006
KittenAuth Test - New Approach to CAPTCHA
I hate most CAPTCHAs ("Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" per Wikipedia) -- bizarre, twisted fonts on eye-bending backgrounds make it difficult, if not impossible, for this human to read the text. Below is just one example:
So it was with excitement that I read about KittenAuth Test, a new approach to CAPTCHA that relies on image cues instead of text.
Essentially, KittenAuth Test puts up a grid of images, some subset of which belong to a common descriptor or category -- clicking on those common images authenticates the user. One example, keeping with the name of the test, would be kitten photos interspersed with non-kitten images, as this example shows:
Merely clicking the three kitten photos in any order authenticates the user.
This is definitely an improvement. No typing, no wondering "is it an 'l' or a '1'?", and it's fun (well, almost). Plus, the images could easily be customized to reinforce the theme or subject of the website much more consistently than traditional CAPTCHAs. I hope this enhancement energizes the authentication community to move beyond those dreadful warped-text CAPTCHAs that nobody particularly likes.
Posted by Craig in Computing
and Internet
Comments
Is this like "cute overload"?
Posted by: Bob at April 15, 2006 1:02 AM