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

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

#81

Post by aliglia » Thu, May 05, 2011, 5:32 PM UTC

neatoincognito wrote: post #48

aliglia wrote: post #22

I have never understood why I need to type my password twice. Inevitably I just copy what I wrote in the first box into the second. I'm also interested in the elimination of the post sign-up confirmation email. I'd rather get a "Welcome! If you didn't sign up for this service, click here" email, but I can imagine that if I didn't actually sign up for the service, I'd never want to "click here" for fear of spam. There…

The post sign-up confirmation email is proof to the service that you indeed opted-in to their service and agree to receive future emails. Without a confirmation, the service is at risk of being blacklisted for spam.

Yeah, I understand. The email confirmation link just seems like such a barrier to entry. Do you get annoyed every time you have to go confirm your email address? I do.

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

#82

Post by arkitaip » Thu, May 05, 2011, 5:39 PM UTC

bxr wrote: post #75

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #7

1000x times yes about the newsletter checkbox. Nothing turns me off to a service more than being tricked into receiving a newsletter. I consider those to be spam and mark them as such.

Having the newsletter unchecked by default is effectively the same as not having a newsletter. Personally, I think "don't have a newsletter" is a great idea (it reduces UI cutter too), but people want to send newsletters and the only way to make sending a newsletter worth the time spent to prepare it is by making it opt-out not opt-in. edit: I'm not saying I support this, just that a newsletter is never done in the u…

It's still unethical IMHO.

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

#83

Post by bane » Thu, May 05, 2011, 5:44 PM UTC

Not sure if it was accidental or not, but we ended up with the single simplest sign-up/login I've ever seen. We've even received a few emails from users alarmed at how simple it is. We're considering adding a few artificial steps (like filling out a profile) so that users feel more like they are creating an account.

1. Click login

2. Choose account provider

3. Grant us authorization access

4. Done - we pull your name and email address from the OAuth information and autopopulate your user profile.

At this point we don't strictly need any more information, and adding more account providers doesn't increase the number of steps. Actually, when we only supported Google accounts we didn't have a step #2.

We may start asking people some more questions, but for now signing up and logging in virtually identical user experiences.

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

#84

Post by jhc » Thu, May 05, 2011, 5:44 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.

Yeah, I think at the very least this would be in addition to a "Forgot Password" link instead of replacing it. My favorite software seems to read my mind by supporting multiple ways of doing things, including whichever way I expect. But I like the idea of putting an extra link close to the field itself. Maybe "Password: (_Forgot?_)"

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

#85

Post by aliglia » Thu, May 05, 2011, 5:45 PM UTC

mekoka wrote: post #73

Another thing that I'll start to experiment with is delayed confirmations. The confirmation step via emails is one of those things that has been copied over and over, without knowing, in many cases, what problem it addresses in the first place and if it's crucial to one's particular situations. I think having to interrupt your visit to log into your email, is another speed bump to a smooth registration process. A bet…

I completely agree with delayed confirmations. On the service we're building right now, we're also letting users get started using the site without signing up at all to begin with. Then, if they want to save their data, they'll need to create an account.

On a desktop app, you don't have to enter a filename until you're ready to save...why should you have to do that on the web? (of course, this isn't useful in cases where data is sensitive)

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

#86

Post by SamParker » Thu, May 05, 2011, 5:56 PM UTC

How about the revolutionary idea of actully letting the user enter their name when you ask for their name? That is, a name such as 'John Smith' with a space. There's really no reason to exclude spaces - all computer languages allow spaces in strings.

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

#87

Post by skx » Thu, May 05, 2011, 5:57 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.

The way that I've always handled this is to only show the "Forgot Password" link after a login attempt fails.

Maybe that's unfair; expecting a user to attempt to login even if they're not sure of their details, but it always seemed reasonable enough to me.

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

#88

Post by Semiapies » Thu, May 05, 2011, 5:59 PM UTC

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #7

1000x times yes about the newsletter checkbox. Nothing turns me off to a service more than being tricked into receiving a newsletter. I consider those to be spam and mark them as such.

And giving a preview makes the newsletter sound like something you're offering to the customer, not something undesirable you're trying to inflict on the customer.

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

#89

Post by lamby » Thu, May 05, 2011, 6:07 PM UTC

bugsy wrote: post #46

I'm skeptical of such articles, but this one had a lot of good advice. I so hate country selection popups that have 200 countries in them, and United States is near the bottom even though 95% of their customers are in the US, or perhaps they don't even ship outside the US. So many sites do that and it is infuriating.

> I so hate country selection popups that have 200 countries in them, and United States is near the bottom

Another related problem for us Brits is that you sometimes end up doing a hunt up and down the list for one of "United Kingdom" -> "England" -> "Great Britain" -> "Britain" -> "British Isles" -> "The United Kingdom" etc. etc, whilst trying to remember all the different "synonyms".

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

#90

Post by theBobMcCormick » Thu, May 05, 2011, 6:29 PM UTC

bane wrote: post #83

Not sure if it was accidental or not, but we ended up with the single simplest sign-up/login I've ever seen. We've even received a few emails from users alarmed at how simple it is. We're considering adding a few artificial steps (like filling out a profile) so that users feel more like they are creating an account. 1. Click login 2. Choose account provider 3. Grant us authorization access 4. Done - we pull your name…

That's the kind of sign up I really like. I hate having to make up yet another damn password, then record it somewhere because I know I'll forget it, etc. I much prefer to use just authorize you through Google Sign-in, FaceBook Connect, etc.