free-form text field on accounts (and groups?)

[ajw]

I often want to keep notes with passwords.

Things like a credit card web site, when account was opened, credit limit, *credit card number*, *PIN*, etc.  This allows me to keep all the information in a single place.

I'd like a text field (just like I'm typing into right now to enter this post) on account settings.

Naturally, it would have to be encrypted.

It would be nice to be able to click on a URL in the note (like the credit card website) and go to that site, but that's not critical.

- Al -

[Eric H. Jung]

Hi Al,
If the "Description" field was called "Description/Notes" and was a multi-row textbox (instead of its current single-row), would that work? As for encrypting the field, it's currently not encrypted but this could be added. I'd like to know if you want yet another field on that dialog or the current one can be expanded/reused to fit your needs.

As an aside, PasswordMaker will shortly have the ability to auto-populate any field (e.g. PIN), not just username and password

[ajw]

I think that'd be fine; I don't currently use Description at all; I use a descriptive name ("Alan's Discover card"  "Alan's secret Swiss bank account"... :)

Initially I thought it would look better visually if the note field was at the bottom, beneath the settings, but then I realized that's only because it's like that in another app I'm used to.

I see no reason the notes couldn't be on top (expanded Description/Notes field) and the settings below, so expanding and encrypting Description is fine by me.  Anyone currently using it as a single line would continue to do so.  (although if they would like a separate notes field they'd be out of luck)
(hmmm...   how about a notes field with tab pages...   hmmm... and user-configurable forms....  and... and...   :)
(Alan imagines Eric running away screaming...)

How do you think you'd handle sizing vertically?  Can the Description field auto-size based on the window size?  So you'd always see the Name above and 1 line of Desciption and all the settings, but if you make the window taller you'd have Name above, settings at the bottom and Description would expand to fill the available space.  Is that possible?  (I think that'd be ideal if it can be done)

Alternatively, a user setting for "display N lines of Description" would be ok - just not as clean.

As an aside, PasswordMaker will shortly have the ability to auto-populate any field (e.g. PIN), not just username and password

Excellent!  I don't usually have other fields to fill in - will it be able to fill in things like name, address, phone, etc for purchasing forms?   That'd be a definite improvement - repeatedly filling in that junk is a pain...

- Al -

[Eric H. Jung]

How do you think you'd handle sizing vertically? Can the Description field auto-size based on the window size? So you'd always see the Name above and 1 line of Desciption and all the settings, but if you make the window taller you'd have Name above, settings at the bottom and Description would expand to fill the available space. Is that possible? (I think that'd be ideal if it can be done)

Yes, this is possible with the XUL flex attribute. No problem.

Excellent! I don't usually have other fields to fill in - will it be able to fill in things like name, address, phone, etc for purchasing forms?

Yes -- anything.

Tyrantmizar, can you add to the FRL "Change description field in Account Settings to multi-line notes/description box"? I'm fairly certain Romeo asked for this once, too, or something similar.

By the way, you should be aware that the notes/description field won't appear as multiple lines in the Advanced Options->Accounts Tab->Description column without a serious amount of work on my part... so I'll probably leave that out unless you specifically request it.

-Eric

[ajw]

By the way, you should be aware that the notes/description field won't appear as multiple lines in the Advanced Options->Accounts Tab->Description column without a serious amount of work on my part... so I'll probably leave that out unless you specifically request it.

I don't see that as a big limitation - it permits it to work as it does now, and I can't imagine anyone wanting to display many lines of description for every account!  That'd be one messy display with lots of vertical scrolling!

- Al -

[tanstaafl]

Tyrantmizar, can you add to the FRL "Change description field in Account Settings to multi-line notes/description box"? I'm fairly certain Romeo asked for this once, too, or something similar.

Actually, that was me - although maybe Romeo did too at some point... ;)

I guess it slipped through the cracks - that was a while back...

As an aside, PasswordMaker will shortly have the ability to auto-populate any field (e.g. PIN), not just username and password

kewl! been waiting for that one...

By the way, you should be aware that the notes/description field won't appear as multiple lines in the Advanced Options->Accounts Tab->Description column without a serious amount of work on my part... so I'll probably leave that out unless you specifically request it.

Definitely don't need it there...

On this note though... Al hit all around a good idea...

Making the 'Description' field multi lines will definitely clutter this window a lot more. Have you considered breaking up the Account Details window into Tabs, to better organize and unclutter the windw? Maybe just start with two (but this way you could always add more, so adding more options will be much less problematic) - have the Account name, Description, URL stuff and Username on the Main tab, and put the other stuff on an 'Encryption Options' tab or something? Much cleaner...

[Eric H. Jung]

Hadn't thought of that. Good idea.

[tanstaafl]

kewl - I'll go post a FR...

[ajw]

On this note though... Al hit all around a good idea...

(Al grins...  :)

Making the 'Description' field multi lines will definitely clutter this window a lot more. Have you considered breaking up the Account Details window into Tabs, to better organize and unclutter the windw? Maybe just start with two (but this way you could always add more, so adding more options will be much less problematic) - have the Account name, Description, URL stuff and Username on the Main tab, and put the other stuff on an 'Encryption Options' tab or something? Much cleaner...

Actually, I don't like tabs very much.

If it's possible, I like to see everything all at once.  Tabs make me hunt for this information and that bit and then this setting over here.  Sometimes it's necessary; there's just too much information to display, but I'd argue against it here.

But that's just me...

(would it be possible to have an "everything" tab - and possibly an option to display the normal tabs or the everything tab?)

- Al -

[Eric H. Jung]

There are people using PasswordMaker at 800x600 resolution, so as that dialog grows in size it will eventually be too large for them. I know because the Advanced Settings dialog used to be rather huge and lots of people complained.

Bottom line is tab probably won't be introduced until/unless the dialog gets overly complicated or too large for 800x600. As it stands, it could use some grouping lines so I might do that.

Making the description box multi-line probably won't push it over the 800x600 limit, but I'll need to check.

(would it be possible to have an "everything" tab - and possibly an option to display the normal tabs or the everything tab?)

I'm not very inclined to do this. Why?

[ajw]

There are people using PasswordMaker at 800x600 resolution, so as that dialog grows in size it will eventually be too large for them. I know because the Advanced Settings dialog used to be rather huge and lots of people complained.

That's a good point - I got a widescreen notebook when my last notebook died, and I've gotten rather used to it - I forget what it was like to be cramped...


With multi-line description, the dialog would look like this:



and if the dialog were made taller, Description expands vertically, so you'd see:



Scroll bars on the right if necessary, of course.

Doesn't seem bad to me - but of course I'm the one requesting it...  :)


I like your idea of adding some grouping - a friend of mine is adamant about lining things up, so I did a bit to see what it'd look like:



I'm not terribly good at graphic layout; I'll bet somebody with some artistic sense could do wonders with it...


(I just stuck these images on my own web server - is there a better place to put 'em?  I can leave them there forever; no problem, but probably better if you have the images yourself...  it's your product and forum...  and are they sized ok?  I can make 'em smaller if that'd be better)

(would it be possible to have an "everything" tab - and possibly an option to display the normal tabs or the everything tab?)

I'm not very inclined to do this. Why?

Why, because that way I get my all-on-one page and everyone else gets tabs!  (or in other words, I get things *my* way!  :)

Actually, looking at the images, I don't think two tabs would be bad.  If you can, I'd like to be able to pick name&description&generated password on the first, and password configuration on the second - I imagine you and others are planning the other way...

I'm thinking of PasswordMaker as a repository for all my secret information; more than just a password maker.   (like this morning when I looked up airline frequent flier numbers - no password needed there; just the encrypted description field)

Could the tab order be configurable?  (drag-n-drop reordering would be cool, but with two tabs I don't see it as necessary; just a "first tab is description / first tab is password configuration" selection.)

Once this syncs with PDAs, I can replace the tool I'm currently using - that's my real goal...  :)

- Al -

[tanstaafl]

Actually, I don't see any reason for the Description/Comments field to expand like that - just make it 4 or 5 lines high, and if more text is entered, give it a scroll bar.

I would like to see the encrytion options moved to a separate tab because I rarely change these - the only things that get modified almost every time are the URL fields and the Username.

That said - it isn't a high priority for me. But if/when it does get split up, I'd like to see the stuff that gets modified every time on the Main Tab, and the rest on [a] secondary tab.

[ajw]

Actually, I don't see any reason for the Description/Comments field to expand like that - just make it 4 or 5 lines high, and if more text is entered, give it a scroll bar.

Bring up the New Account dialog now, then stretch it vertically - you get all the options at the top, then this big grey area, and the ok/cancel buttons at the bottom.  Looks pretty silly...   At least if the description expands it makes the dialog look reasonable.

Making it 4 lines is wasteful for anyone not using the description, and cramped for much of the data I'd like to put in it.

If it's hard to do, then I could see making it a fixed height, but Eric said
Yes, this is possible with the XUL flex attribute. No problem.
so I'd argue for the most-flexible (uh, pun...  :)  solution.

That said - it isn't a high priority for me. But if/when it does get split up, I'd like to see the stuff that gets modified every time on the Main Tab, and the rest on [a] secondary tab.

I think that is sensible after all.

I know I'm thinking of PM as more of (or evolving into) more of a secred-information database than just a means of keeping/tracking/generating passwords (not to diminish that function - it's very cool the way it works!) - but of course that's because that's what *I* want...

Thinking of it that way, I think I'd want name, description, and the generated password on the first tab (can't decide on user name there - if PM is going to auto-fill, is it needed on first tab?  and if so does the password even need to be on the first tab?  I dunno..  I confuse myself sometimes...  :)
I guess it makes sense to either show name & password on the first (and on the second tab also?  so all the configuration settings are on second tab; first tab is reference but can also change the user name if desired...)

Thinking of it as (just... :)  a password generator, I'd want the password info directly accessable; the description isn't terribly important...

- Al -

[tanstaafl]

Thinking of it that way, I think I'd want name, description, and the generated password on the first tab (can't decide on user name there - if PM is going to auto-fill, is it needed on first tab?

?

If PM is going to auto-fill the username, then you have to enter it - which I always do. Every Account I have has a username entered - so this should definitely be on the Main Tab.

I'm missing your point...

As I said...

Put the items that the average user modifies virtually *every* time on the Main Tab - username is almost always going to be added. 'When URL...' and password pre/suffixes I don't usually use, but can see the argument for having them on the Main Tab.

Mainly, though, I'd eventually like to see the Encryption options separated out into their own Tab - l33t, hash, pass length and character set.

and if so does the password even need to be on the first tab? I dunno.. I confuse myself sometimes...

I don't need to see it - although it did give me some level of comfort when I first started using PM - I even copied the generated passwords religiously, putting them into an encryptes text file, just in case PM all of a sudden stopped 'working'... :lol:

Needless to say, I'm passed that now, and would actually feel better *not* seeing it.

Hmmm... another feature request?... I think I'll hold off and not wear out my welcome...

[ajw]

If PM is going to auto-fill the username, then you have to enter it - which I always do. Every Account I have has a username entered - so this should definitely be on the Main Tab.

Unless you always use the same username, in which case it doesn't need to be...
(and thinking of PM as secret-info-database, not everything will *have* a username/password...   but I'm ok with it either way - really I just want a bigger description field...  :)

Mainly, though, I'd eventually like to see the Encryption options separated out into their own Tab - l33t, hash, pass length and character set.

Off the first tab, yes, but if you mean a third tab (first is name&desc,etc, second is password config info, and third is l33t etc, I'd argue against it - I'd rather all the password *configuration* stuff on one tab - and put the daily-use stuff (username, password, URL - so you can click to go there) on the first tab.

I don't need to see it - although it did give me some level of comfort when I first started using PM - I even copied the generated passwords religiously, putting them into an encryptes text file, just in case PM all of a sudden stopped 'working'...

Heh...   See?  that's what I have to do right now - I want a copy of all my passwords on my Palm, so I use PM to make a password, then copy it to the desktop companion of my Palm app...  (having passwords and secret data on both notebook and Palm is critical for me - and must be editable on both sides)

But at the rate Eric's going, it won't be long...   :)

- Al -