h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, the new code now has a new login system. There's a couple of small things to do behind the scenes, but they really are more at a database level than a code level.

So, what's the difference? Mostly it's logged in time. The new system allows you to tick a "remember me" box that sets a long lasting cookie on your machine. This also means that when you come back, you're remembered properly without having to log in again and again.

The thing I'm trying to decide now though, is how long to make the cookie last if you don't tick the remember me box. The site must set a cookie to allow you to be logged in, but how long should it be for? It's currently a week, I'm thinking of setting it to be half an hour. Ideas?

Speaking from my usual unassailable position of total ignorance, I venture that this question is most important to those who log on to h2g2 from work computers. (Work computers someone else is paying for, I mean...)

Just to keep nosy coworkers from being able to log on, I think your choice of half an hour is probably a good one.

I agree. A half hour would be ideal for my work computer.

If I keep the self-refreshing conversation pop-up open, will it still keep me logged in on the new system? There ~will~ be a self-refreshing conversation pop-up, right?

Half an hour it will be then

|| Additional... ||

I've just added some new functionality to the new version of the site. It's almost like it's coming into the 21st century.

We're in the 21st century? I've spent more than half my life in this millenium and i still think we've only just made it into the century

Is that live yet, Pastey? I just logged in on my laptop, on which the week-long cookie had run out on, but I don't see a 'remember me' box anywhere.

Poor lil needs new glasses.

I thought that said New Logic System

Oddly, my phone, which I rarely use for Internet purposes, remains logged in from one week to the next.

What about session cookies, which automatically clear when you close the browser?

TRiG.

It's not live yet I'm afraid. It's purely on the test server at the moment, but it is hooked into the test site.

Trig, the new version of the site uses Zend authentication and therefore closes your session when you close the browser. It does also however look for cookies from the remember me and reinstantiates your session when you come back