A registration script that I am working on follows these (standard) steps:
1. User enters info
2. Register account
3. Send activation email
4. Activate account.
I'm indecisive on where to check for the existing of the email address in the database that i want to use that as a username. Do i check during step 1, using an AJAX option or do i check during step 2 once the information is passed to the database? Now that i think about it more, both options should be in place; disabled Javascript would render the AJAX option pointless. Any thoughts / advice?
Checking for existing user/s
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- social_experiment
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Checking for existing user/s
“Don’t worry if it doesn’t work right. If everything did, you’d be out of a job.” - Mosher’s Law of Software Engineering
Re: Checking for existing user/s
I think either option 2, or option 1 AND option 2 are fine. I like to keep my registration forms to the bare minimum -- typically just username and password -- so there wouldn't be much benefit for me in implementing the AJAX solution.
- social_experiment
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- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:08 am
- Location: .za
Re: Checking for existing user/s
Is this a personal preference or a client specification; and if you had to, would you convince or attempt to, a client to go for the minimalist route? I'd also opt to have as few details as possible for initial registration and let the user update information at a later stage but i'm not sure the client i'm working with is up for it.Celauran wrote:typically just username and password
“Don’t worry if it doesn’t work right. If everything did, you’d be out of a job.” - Mosher’s Law of Software Engineering
Re: Checking for existing user/s
I think the fewer hurdles to registration you present, the better. Last thing I want to do is turn away a prospective client via an obnoxious sign up form. You can set your username later if email isn't a sufficient identifier. I assume you know your email, so I'm only going to ask for it once. I'll be sending an activation email to check for that. Ditto password. If you enter it incorrectly, there are recovery mechanisms for that. Most people will get it right the first time and appreciate the simplicity.