80
This is a great question and it may take a few more attempts to get it right. As a rule, people don't read, so a short description is key. I'd try:
Preferred Full Name
Nicknames are fine, titles are discouraged
Hope this helps
73
No!
You can't send "forgotten password" links to a single account if you have the same e-mail address, unless the user specifies a unique username. But what happens if the user forgets the username as well? Then you need to reset password on all accounts associated with the e-mail address.
65
Answering your question, which doesn't involve specific motivation behind it. Yes, people don't like to register on sites, people don't like giving information all the time, people don't like remembering passwords and user names.
This behaviour is common to everyone, but some groups are more annoyed than others and some are more radical than others; for ...
51
So basically you want someone who signs up for a new account and enters already existing credentials, to log in as the owner of these credentials?
I wouldn't recommend this:
The chance that the person signing up is not the owner of the existing account may be small, it is still possible.
The difference between signing up and logging in should be clear.
A ...
44
Yes!
There are no security problems. If two people share an email account, and one of them has an account on your site, either of them can reset the password on the account (since they both have access to the place where the "forgot username" and "forgot password" emails get sent). Both people have the ability to take control of the account, and that's ...
43
It depends
In the general case, the fewer forms you have the higher the conversion rate. However, if the form lacks important information for the users, like trust signals or other specific info, your completion rate will drop.
One thing at a time is much easier for the brain to process.
"Two stimuli therfore achieve worse results than just one. It ...
42
Yes, log the user in
There are several ways an existing user might end up on a sign-up page:
User clicks sign up by mistake
User recently signed up for an account and the browser URL autocomplete takes user back to that URL (most recent)
User forgot they signed up previously and is attempting to sign up again (and, like many users, ill-advisedly uses the ...
41
All of them except "e-mail" and "Password".
This is the minimum information you need to uniquely identify a user and allow them secure access to your site. The only other piece of vital information would be their address if you were shipping them something - but you can ask for that when they actually order something and not before.
All of the other ones ...
40
Overall, I think taking users where they came from can be better. Usually, users register to continue their path to a certain goal. For example, Kate was reading comments to a news article, she thought that she has something good to say and clicked "Comment" (Kate's goal is to comment). Now the system asks Kate to register and takes Kate straight to the ...
38
From English.Stackexchange: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5789/whats-the-difference-between-to-confirm-and-to-verify
Verification requires external evidence.
Confirmation requires a re-issuance of a believed statement.
To use your example: 'Confirm user account' is asking the user from their perspective. 'Would you like to do this?'. '...
38
Don't give instructions. Give clear, concise, impossible-to-ignore examples.
Display Name
(e.g., Bob Jones, Liz Johnson)
The example names that you choose, like the ones here, need to communicate that users are encouraged to enter their "daily use" first/last names, without having to actually type out that direction, which users may glaze over.
35
Yes - underhanded, but this is not a problem reserved for the web - it's long been an issue for print too.
A couple of years ago, the EU banned pre-ticked boxes on shopping websites in order to prevent such issues as unintentional purchase of insurance or optional extras when purchasing plane tickets, for example.
The legislation does appear to revolve ...
35
NO.
There are chances that user might have no idea about their registration status on the site. And start a fresh registration.
In such a case, best solution would be to OFFER a way to login by inline validation. Before the user reaches the password field, the validation should suggest ways to login as the email is present in database. But, since its not ...
34
Hiding information behind logins is really bad from the usability standpoint. Imagine you are a user who googles for a certain piece of information.
Workflow on website without registration-wall:
enter search-term into search-engine
click on first result
read question to confirm it's really relevant
read answer
Workflow with registration-wall
enter ...
31
Where is the best place to ask the user their ethnicity?
Honestly -- in the doctors office.
Unless the benefit to the user is clear then don't ask for it. You wanting to keep track for your own records isn't clear benefit to the user. If it turns out that a user sees value in telling you their ethnicity (like in a doctor's office due to ethnic related ...
30
It's better to use a special one-time login url.
Reasoning: You want to make the process as easy as possible to have the lowest drop-off rate. Sending someone a temporary password requires them to either retype a password that they haven't chosen, or copy and paste it. It also provides no additional security benefits.
30
I disagree with the other answers, and say yes, it may make sense (with a couple of caveats).
There is an increasing prevalence of the combined login/sign up form pattern on some sites, where the whole sign up form is simply email address and password, and all more substantive profile questions become an optional step after registration. This pattern ...
28
The most common solution I've seen to this is including Facebook and Google login, considering most users will already be logged in to either of the social sites.
27
Does your system allow users to control their own display name at a later point in time? E.g., once hired, can Robert V. Jones go into some settings panel somewhere and change their own display name to show "Rob Jones" or "R.V. Jones"? (If not, what happens if they change their name legally and want to be subsequently addressed by "R.V. Smith"?)
If so, I'd ...
26
As a non-native english speaker, I always have found sign in & sign up, VERY confusing, I always click the wrong button. You should avoid Sign up. Login and Logout are not so much confusing
26
I'm not sure we can we specifically answer the question with the information given, but below are some ideas of what to do and what not to do that may help you determine the best course of action in your own scenario.
Automate the sign-in after sign-up. I really dislike those sign-ups that gather all the site needs to use an account then redirect users to a ...
24
Sadly there is no standard for the name of such an email - all your suggestions are used. But consider the following:
Verification Email - used when you can still access services, but need to verify your email in the meantime.
Activation Email - used when services (account) are not accessible until email activation takes place. You can argue that there is ...
22
The second time you are asked to enter your email you may notice it says "confirmation." That's all it is really, just confirmation that you are entering the correct email.
In some instances, asking for an email twice is crucial. Consider signing up for an email list for example. If the user makes a mistake and enters their email incorrectly, they may leave ...
21
There isn't any major security reason behind them expiring. The main reason that this is done is to be able to clean up the database of old unused verification information.
From a UX side, some people argue that having a shorter verification time encourages people to verify sooner rather than later, but I haven't seen any evidence supporting that. It does ...
21
Stripe.com (a payments processor) offers an even more "immediate" sign-up process - they allow you to skip it all together. Any guest can begin using their dashboard and begin customising settings, testing mock transactions and making customer profiles before entering any sign-up information. No username, password or email. It's only when you want to go live ...
20
Users come to your site to complete a task. You should make this as easy for them as possible.
Registration may be a necessary step from your perspective, but for users it is an annoyance and an additional step they have to take in order to complete their task.
If you then direct them to a welcome page that makes them lose their context and adds little ...
19
I disagree with @Alphabeticaa's answer. From personal experience, I hate it when I need to register simply because I wish to view an article or post a simple question. I have a "dump" e-mail address with a free provider especially for these "one-time" registrations but I try to avoid them.
As a concrete example, I often browse the Stack Exchange websites ...
18
A form can absolutely be too easy to complete.
Some decisions need to be slowed down rather than expedited. One example might be a modal that reads, "click here to give your no-account Brother-in-law power of attorney."
LinkedIn got themselves a class action suit for making it so easy to spam everyone on your address list that many people didn't even ...
17
Because some people just want to watch the world burn
There's an argument that you wish to entice people to register (ie make it prominent), while those wishing to log in are already interested, and likely to not mind clicking the extra button. They are also likely to click "Remember me" anyway
It also depends on your paradigm, how your customers use your ...
17
Yes
There’s a widely agreed-upon guideline to “Remove fields which collect information that can be (a) derived in some other way, (b) collected more conveniently at a later date, or (c) simply omitted“ from registration forms.
But there is at least one big exception to this rule: the name field.
Your system probably doesn’t require a name to complete a ...
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