> my password manager can try to do it automatically, but it often fails because it doesn't know how to translate fields from the registration page to the login page.
I have yet to find a case where my pwd manager fails to do this (lastpass). I've also never (with the default settings) had a site reject a password generated by it.
> We can do this by introducing a standard web interface for password managers.
I think the web is closer to that than you think (it's fairly easy to figure out the fields in a login/registration/pwd-change form). Mobile apps are a different story, that's where we really need standard system support for delivering credentials.
> I have yet to find a case where my pwd manager fails to do this (lastpass). I've also never (with the default settings) had a site reject a password generated by it.
A few minutes ago I registered to T-mobile, and 1Password thought that my username was something like mytmobile.aspx. I also find that 1Password has a very hard time with banking sites. There is at least one bank where it simply fails to login. YMMV of course.
Going beyond these anecdotes, even if these heuristics almost always work, I believe that having heuristics involved at all is preventing mainstream adoption. I think that if the password management interface is standardized and heuristic-free, then we will see password management support in the mainstream browsers. I am imagining a future where the auto-generated passwords work transparently so that users don't even know about them. I think this cannot happen without browser support.
> Mobile apps are a different story, that's where we really need standard system support for delivering credentials.
I agree that password management on mobile is a greater pain point, and (as mentioned elsewhere in this thread) the additional problem there is with entering the master password.
I have yet to find a case where my pwd manager fails to do this (lastpass). I've also never (with the default settings) had a site reject a password generated by it.
> We can do this by introducing a standard web interface for password managers.
I think the web is closer to that than you think (it's fairly easy to figure out the fields in a login/registration/pwd-change form). Mobile apps are a different story, that's where we really need standard system support for delivering credentials.