Have you seen something like this before? You probably have.

It’s called a CAPTCHA and it’s supposed to help stop spamming on websites. What happens though is that they are a bit annoying and in the end you might not need one.

Annoying and broken pretty easily

Josh Fraser blogged some time ago on “Why you should never use a captcha” and I subscribe entirely to what he says:

“CAPTCHAs are annoying, you probably don’t need one and even if you did it could still be broken pretty easily.”

Alternatives

Two nice and simple alternatives:

1. Hidden field using CSS: Josh himself points to this solution:

“add an extra field with a tempting name like “email” to your form that is then hidden using CSS. Humans can’t see the field and as a result will never fill it out. Any request that comes in with the field completed can easily be eliminated as spam. The beauty of this is you have a pretty effective spam-stopper without ruining the user experience or adding any friction to the process. A simple technique like this is probably enough to stop the majority of spam bots.”

2. A slider: Joe Stump tweeted about this one (which Josh also mentions) and it’s a really nice one I must add.

Time to move on from captchas? I think so.

http://www.onlineaspect.com/2010/07/02/why-you-should-never-use-a-captcha/

http://twitter.com/joestump/status/16503358737

Ohh I’m going into dangerous territory here reviewing restaurants. There is lots and lots of choice and by no means I’m affiliated with any of these restaurants so please don’t get too sentimental over it, it’s just some of my favourites.  Scenario: You have a group of friends and you want to go out in Lisbon to have some food. The options can be overwhelming, there is a lot to choose from and you probably won’t be easily disappointed. Nevertheless, here are some of my favourites that you can try.

Italian

Price Range: ~ 17€ per person

Address:

Avenida Conde de Valbom Nº52-A
1050-069 Lisboa, Portugal
217 613 580

The pizzas are the best I ever had and you can have half of one kind and half of another which is great.

http://www.lafinestra.pt/

Chinese

Price Range: ~ 10€ per person

Address:

8A Rua Pascoal de Melo
Lisbon 1000-230
21 812 3349

“Hong Kong Grande Palácio” is a Cantonese restaurant with awesome food and low prices. Perfect for your Udon soup :)

Vegetarian

Price Range: ~18€ per person

Address:

Rua da Palmeira, 15
Lisboa, Portugal
213 421 407

Very nice restaurant especially if you manage a place outside in the private garden.

http://www.restauranteterra.pt/English/Welcome.html

Portuguese

Price Range: ~ 15€ per person

Address:

Travessa do Pregoeiro 15,
1600 Lisboa, Portugal‎
217 143 622‎

A very special place with ties covering the ceiling of the main room. Extremely good food.

What about you? Any favourites you want to share?