I have a question about implementing a sign up and sign in widget that works on any page on a site (i.e. without redirecting users to a sign in page when they want to log in to interact with content on the current page.) My planned approach is:
- Keep the regular HTML anchors to sign up and sign in pages in the href tag
- Using javascript, provide people who click "Sign In" or "Sign Up" a way to log in without leaving the page
I am planning to make it "slide-down" style: our header will stay in place, but just below it a panel will open with the Sign Up or Sign In form, providing tabs or links to switch between the two forms in the panel. (If the user clicks "sign up" somewhere lower down in the page, the user's browser will scroll to the panel position using a #fragment on the link, smoothing the scroll jump using js.)
However, most websites seem to do this "lightbox" style, in which the whole page is darkened and a box opens in the middle with the Sign Up and Sign In forms.
How would one think through this choice of a slide-down or lightbox for logging in? Which is better?