Comments on: Login designs: the 9 worst ones and where to find good examples

By: Login designs: the 9 worst ones and where to find good examples | UX Booth

[...] Login designs: the 9 worst ones and where to find good examples http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/bad-login-designs/ [...]

By: Malcolm Coles

Malcolm Coles — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:52:48 +0000

Or even better, when you finally have to get them to email you your 'username' and they email you ... your email address.

By: Sahus Pilwal

Sahus Pilwal — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:59:20 +0000

One of the most interesting articles I have read in a while. It just goes to show that even the big guns get it wrong.

By: Mike Sawicki

Mike Sawicki — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:22:40 +0000

T-Mobile's site in general is one of the worst sites out there. I literally switched service providers because you can do nothing on the site... well that and I wanted an iPhone. 90% of the time you can't even pay your bill because it's down.

By: Five Minute Argument

Five Minute Argument — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:08:58 +0000

Related to the username/employee number issue is a personal bug bear: sites that ask you for 'username' when they actually mean 'email address'. Even worse: when they never tell you they require 'email address', even if your login fails, so you have to end up guessing that your username is, in fact, your email address. ARGH!!

By: Andy Austin

Andy Austin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:05:52 +0000

With that Halifax one, you probably wanted to use the "Sign In" beside "Internet Banking" and not "private banking" as most of the general public will not be "private banking" clients. Another area of confusion.

By: Fin Keegan

Fin Keegan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:48:23 +0000

It's not about security of course: it's about banks' ingrained fear of transparency and customer control. Allied Irish Banks (AIB) in Ireland is worth mentioning in this context: multiple login procedures and a "Code Card" which you have to keep to hand. Every time I check my balances online my blood pressure is forced up.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:38:14 +0000

What a useful post! I think you're right -- the people who design these things don't use them. Or even test them.

By: Malcolm Coles

Malcolm Coles — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:51:44 +0000

They did ... but a triple-lock security system with its own minimum-strength password rules AND non-standard terminology is not easy to remember. And of course you're supposed to destroy the letter. Also, don't get me started on the fact that to login you press a button that opens a new window where you press another button that changes the first screen (that you can no longer see).

You didn't use to work where I did, did you?!? Our username used to be our employee number - and our password was our name. Now THAT was confusing!

By: David Hamill

David Hamill — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:28:29 +0000

This is a nice little post. In the defence of Abbey, they've probably posted a letter to their customer with a code to use rather than having them choose a password.

As long as they use the same words as appear in the letter then it should be pretty obvious. However I get your point.

I remember a company who had an online system for their employees. It asked for their username when it really meant employee number. Rather than change the label, they wasted endless amounts of money trying to tell people that their username was actually their employee number.