This website is supposed to gauge the strength of the password you want to test. I don’t know how good it works. http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx
Sounds like a good way to collect passwords ;D
You don’t need to go to the lengths of typing in a password but take the advice of many sites in creating strong passwords. I would say that a password needs to be easy for you to use or it is also a wast of time. You could also use a password manager tool like roboform.com (there is a free and paid option), where you can have a long mixed case and numeric that the application protects with encryption and it remembers what sites it is used for.
To better protect your security, connect to that site with HTTPS:// and not http:// .
The appended --s lets you into Microsoft’s secure servers. I can’t believe this page wasn’t a secure page in the first place …
At least its a good place for password gauging. Course, anything that’s more than 15 characters long is a good start 
(very few password crackers, like various dedicated Linux distros, have quick success in cracking 15+ characters passwords).