The Captcha Solution:
How to use captcha : part 5 of 6
Using captcha to protect your web forms without having to modify
anything at all ... well almost
If you have read through these first captcha tutorials of this captcha web site, tried some of the examples of forms with or without captcha, including the final example of a captcha included inside the form which then sends off the form - then by now you must by pretty confused - especially if you are new to captcha and are probably wondering if you will ever get the hang of all this captcha stuff.
Hey ... if I did ...so will you.
And here is the captcha solution that anyone can add to their website without going nuts..
If you really have gone through this web site up to this point, then you must by now have a pretty good idea that my suggested solution [ for non programmers and webmasters who can just about manage to create a decent website ] is one where you don't need to modify your existing web forms, and that mainly you need no knowledge of PHP, and not even be versed in HTML code.
ATTENTION PLEASE !
Sorry, but to the point of being boring in repeating myself, the following must be stressed and understood ( otherwise the elite PHP expert programmer community [ who keep forgetting to include foolproof for dummies instructions in their astrophysical php explanations ] will keep breaking my b@!!$) :
Not being a programmer myself, and with practically no knowledge of PHP, and neither HTML code, the captcha solution that I am suggesting here is one that works fine for me and will work fine for you.
BUT!
I am in NO way suggesting that this is the greatest implementation of captcha worldwide.This is my free offering to other web idiots like myself to solve the problem of form spamming.
If you are versed in PHP, then you can do better.
If you are NOT versed in PHP - you could do a lot worse.I am not in the least claiming to have invented hot water here, and all I have really done is to try and present the use of captcha in an easy and clear way.
Last but not least... I am also not suggesting that captcha is the ultimate solution and that captcha will stop all spam.
As far as my own web sites are concerned, after implementing captcha on about 40 of my web sites, I stopped receiving 300 form mail spams daily and cut it down to about 5 form spams a day.
I can live with that.Captcha has it's problems, mainly being that some spam bots are even capable of deciphering a captcha generated code, and also, if implemented badly or if using a too ambitious fuzzed up generation of the image, the other problem is that this can make it even too difficult for human eyeballs to decipher the captcha image.
Both of these problems are the battle-horse of captcha detractors. But until these same captcha detractors can come up and offer me another, better, and idiot proof solution to protect my web site forms against form flooding or form spamming - then all I can do is implement my own version of captcha and be content with that.
If you have a simpler implementation of captcha or anything else that can stop spammer bots from spamming my forms, and where I don't have to have a degree in astrophysics, then don't hold your breath and let me know.
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Oh and by the by ... the famous bandwagon of captcha detractors runs on the railway lines of that captcha implementation does not take into consideration the short sighted or even the blind.
Sorry folks - I'd really like to help the short sighted and the blind but if I have to chose against having my servers crashed or worse blacklisted because I have not implemented captcha for that 1 blind person out of the other 10.000 non blind people - then I beg to differ and to opt for Captcha.
Also .... I'd REALLY like to see those same captcha detractors invest at least half of their energy that they spend slamming captcha - in doing something about the spammers.
Solutions, solutions, not detractions are the fuel of progress [ pete ]
Politics aside.....
... let's start now to examine the structure of the captcha solution that I am suggesting here:
Pete's Captcha solution for everyman ( with a bit from here and there ):
Any previously existing forms you have on your web site remain the same and need no changes inside their code and neither does their location in your site root need to change.
All you have to do is rename one file, add one empty new web page and add a link to another web page. That's it.
All this will be shown to you step by step in the following and final section of this captcha guide for beginners.
Go to part 6 of 6 on understanding captcha:
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Site Index:
How to use the Captcha tutorials :
How best to use this captcha website - where should you start from ?
The six part captcha tutorial for beginners:
4 - More examples of using captcha in forms
5 - The captcha solution anyone can use on their website - this page
6 - Free Captcha download and implementation of captcha
6a - Captcha for the short sighted - implementation of large readable captcha
More advanced captcha tutorials:
How to insert captcha inside a web form
Captcha for more advanced web masters with some php know-how:
Online examples of Captcha:
Fully functional example of captcha and form
Large, BiG, GIANT Captcha, with captcha image tweaking options
Contact www.captcha.biz
Contact this website - if you have anything interesting to add
Other captcha information:Captcha links to captcha resources
Captcha web site navigation
[ andare qui per tutorial su Captcha in italiano ]
