Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins • Hacker News Board

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#11

Post by a3nm » Thu, May 05, 2011, 2:42 PM UTC

gchucky wrote: post #8

Admittedly I hadn't heard of using a client-side JS input box as an alternative to a Captcha. Does that sort of thing actually work, or can spammers get around it? Is there any anecdotal data to suggest that that's a better method? (not snarking; actually curious)

I guess the problem is that it stops working when you start being big enough to attract the spammers' attention and get bots tailored to your registration system. In the meantime, I guess this is just to avoid problems with general stupid bots which just fill out all the forms they can't find without trying anything fancy.

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#12

Post by Tichy » Thu, May 05, 2011, 2:43 PM UTC

a3nm wrote: post #6

Using OpenID makes the rest of the techniques moot (except for OpenID providers), right?

I think OpenID has proven to be uneffective, some (HN popular) sites have removed it again (37signals? not sure).

I have problems with OpenID, too, because I tend to be unable to remember which OpenID login I used for a site.

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#13

Post by bitsm » Thu, May 05, 2011, 2:45 PM UTC

I'd be very careful when considering and implementing most of these ideas. While the sentiment is correct (make users' experience easier), many of these approaches have pitfalls or require fallbacks.

Your signup and login pages MUST be bulletproof.

Autofilling city/state from zip, for example, requires an updated database of postal codes, but users will often consider your autofill city as "wrong", since they use a different district/locale name. Make sure users can override your guesses.

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#14

Post by thinkzig » Thu, May 05, 2011, 2:46 PM UTC

Hovertruck wrote: post #4

"Use a Question Mark Icon for the Password Recovery Link" Am I the only one who thinks that is really unintuitive? I don't even think clicking on that icon would cross my mind as a user, and I would spend my time trying to find the "Forgot Password" link.

Agreed. So much of making things easy for the user is sticking to convention and giving them what they expect to see.

I think most places use the "Forgot Password" link now so I think most people come to expect it. I know I would.

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#15

Post by edanm » Thu, May 05, 2011, 2:48 PM UTC

a3nm wrote: post #6

Using OpenID makes the rest of the techniques moot (except for OpenID providers), right?

Unfortunately, the prevailing sentiment right now seems to be that OpenID is not a good idea.

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#16

Post by thinkzig » Thu, May 05, 2011, 2:51 PM UTC

Herwig wrote: post #5

CAPTCHA's are always annoying, no matter what. So why not make some money. Lots of new companies out there offering CAPTCHA ads.

While you're right that all CAPTCHAs are annoying, the CAPTCHA ads are a whole different level of annoying. I think you'd lose more goodwill than you'd gain in money from doing this.

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#17

Post by Herwig » Thu, May 05, 2011, 2:54 PM UTC

thinkzig wrote: post #16

Herwig wrote: post #5

CAPTCHA's are always annoying, no matter what. So why not make some money. Lots of new companies out there offering CAPTCHA ads.

While you're right that all CAPTCHAs are annoying, the CAPTCHA ads are a whole different level of annoying. I think you'd lose more goodwill than you'd gain in money from doing this.

depends, I believe it will depend on what the user has to type.

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#18

Post by andypants » Thu, May 05, 2011, 2:56 PM UTC

Does anybody else think unmasking the password field is a terrible idea?

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#19

Post by uriel » Thu, May 05, 2011, 3:01 PM UTC

a3nm wrote: post #6

Using OpenID makes the rest of the techniques moot (except for OpenID providers), right?

OpenID is ridiculously complex for what it does (and in any case, complexity is the antithesis of security), and fortunately seems to have failed.

The abstract idea was good, the standard itself is awful.

Re: Techniques To Simplify Sign-Ups and Log-Ins

#20

Post by brm » Thu, May 05, 2011, 3:05 PM UTC

One that gets missed almost everywhere is: if I type the wrong username or password, keep my username in the field (so many erase the forms when returning the error). That way I can tell if the mistake was in my username or my password and if it was in my password I don't have to retype everything.