$ mkdir -m 0700 -p Maildir/{cur,new,tmp}

The -m and -p options are no-brainers, but the {cur,new,tmp} was new to me. It was easy to figure out what was going to happen… one command to create the Maildir directory, and the three subdirectories, I was simply unfamiliar with the syntax. A quick look at the Bash man page and I discovered Brace Expansion:

Brace expansion is a mechanism by which arbitrary strings may be generated.

A comma separated list between opening and closing braces is expanded by the shell including any preamble (in my case Maildir/) or postscript. Brace expansion can also generate ranges:

$ echo {1..10}
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cool, huh?

After mixing a batch, and tearing up an old cotton T-shirt, I gave it a try. At first pass, the streaking was minimized, but still there. I applied a more generous amount of solution to the cloth and went at it again. After some light rubbing the streaks were gone, and the display is good as new.

When I say simple, I mean one line of code:

location.href = location.href.replace(/^http:/, 'https:');

This script ensures your Gmail session using Firefox takes place over a secure HTTP connection providing a reasonable amount of protection from eavesdropping and other shenanigans. Add other domains for which both a http and https URI exist and Firefox will always use https. For example, I added:

http://www.google.com/calendar/*

http://docs.google.com/


http://docs.google.com/*

Now all Google Calendar and Google Docs & Spreadsheets sessions are secure. But don’t stop there, any domain will work… not just the Google properties.

Download links: Greasemonkey (install this first), GMailSecure

Since my job requires frequenting the Microsoft Support and MSDN sites, I added Smart Keywords to simplify the searches. Each of the following keywords are defined in my Quick Searches bookmarks folder. To use them, create a new bookmark and copy each URL into the Location field; assign the suggested keywords, or create your own.

Microsoft Support (keyword: ms)
http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?qu=%s

MSDN (keyword: msdn)
http://search.msdn.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?query=%s

Especially helpful is the KB article keyword which enables me to type something like kb 915105 in the Location bar and be taken directly to a KB article by number.

KB Article Lookup (keyword: kb)
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=%s

Keep in mind, these all work with the US sites, if you are an international user, you may need to alter the URL slightly.

Validating and sanitizing user input is no longer optional. Consider what your users really need to do, think about what characters they need to accomplish those tasks, and strip/convert as necessary to protect your community.

Part 1 provides examples of XSS attacks, and a checklist for validating input. An upcoming Part 2 promises to deliver techniques for closing these vulnerabilities and preventing attacks on your sites and communities.

The excitement generated by the popularity of Ajax technologies and all the flashy new Web 2.0 applications, along with a wealth of published tutorials and “howtos”, must entice many to dive head first into web development. My guess is, many do this with little or no thought to the implications these technologies might have on security. I am happy to see XSS addressed, even if in such a simple manner, and hope to see more of these types of tutorials.

The basic idea being that busy web designers don’t always have time to read or write lengthy tutorials but that a daily “bite” of useful information, taken or given, could be good for the soul.

Sounds promising. Hat tip to snook for the link.

It also kills two birds with one stone: participate in the del.icio.us community AND update your blog daily with one del.icio.us post.

This is a “no-hassle” solution done completely through your del.icio.us account. I tried this initially on this blog, but later switched to yadd for a more flexible solution. I made some minor modifications to meet my needs, including a change to the post title, and the automatic creation of tag hyperlinks.