.:Computer Defense:.

One of my favourite things is Autocomplete. I'm sure plenty of security folks are cringing right now, but I enjoy it. It saves me a crapload of data entry every time I want to place an order (Name, Address, Phone number) or post a blog comment (Name, Email, Website)...

Anyways... what really bothers me is web developers that don't know about, or refuse to acknowledge the existence of, autocomplete. Let's compare two online ordering systems that I use frequently.

One contains a check box asking if you'd like it to remember your information (excluding credit card information). The entire order form is set to autocomplete=off and if I check the check box, my info is stored in a cookie with a very long expiry date.

The other doesn't save my info, I have to fill it out every time... This is where autocomplete is nice. Name, Address, Apartment Number, Buzzer Code, City, Postal Code, Phone, Email, etc.... Lots of info to provide but for me it's just first letter + tab. I like this feature... My problem is when I get to credit card information. This website hasn't seen the need to set the credit card related fields to autocomplete=off. Now I know that after I order I have to clear saved form data... this was once an issue though.

I ordered from this company via credit card, but then I moved over to cash orders... months later I happened to order via credit card again... this was when I discovered that the data was autocompleted. I find this very frightening for a number of reasons.

So I want to know... do web developers really have a hard time with autocomplete? I want to point out how important and how vital it is to your online form development. That's all... nothing really here, just a bit of a rant that I wanted to get out. Enjoy.