Comments on: Login with email vs. username

By: Moein

Moein — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:48:53 +0000

Well I had to implement a login form and the model for it
So let me tell you if the programmer isn’t lazy he can’t easily resolve this problem
I did it this way
I added a check box after the email saying if the user wants to use a username and if the check box is not checked then I generate a unique random username and save it in the table
Then the user can login either with email or the username(just like twitter)
And he can always change the username as he likes
Like this you can have the both side happy right?

By: Joe Burke

Joe Burke — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:30:57 +0000

I would say that email for login is the only appropriate method, but that does not remove, for some applications, the requirement of a username. The two should b e treated as separate entities used for different purposes.

By: Mitchell Pilot

Mitchell Pilot — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:34:54 +0000

I don’t like email addresses as login IDs (although I see I am the outlier here).

The original concept of using both a login ID and password (as opposed to just a password as was done in the early days) is that the ID can be a public identifier and only the password need be kept private. Because of spam abuse, email addresses cannot be made public, thus making them a poor substitute for a user ID. Adding a “screen name” while still using the email address to login further complicates what should be very simple: your login ID is public, your password is private, your email address is a data item in your account (also private).

In my mind, the trend toward using email addresses as login identifiers is a touch of laziness on the part of website designers. As you mentioned, it avoids the problem of checking for duplicates, and of storing an additional data item (the username) in the database. It does this at the expense of using as a personal identifier something that was never meant to be that.

I will admit that I am biased because I use a disposable email service that assigns a different email address to every forum I visit; I have many email addresses and cannot remember any of them. I can remember my username (for the few sites that let me use one).

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:11:02 +0000

I dislike screen names, but what about the privacy and usability concerns associated with using an email address to log in? Can I set up an account using steve@apple.com? If so, I’m not going to see communications about my account, and Steve’s going to get spammed.

If the site requires me to verify that I own the email address, that introduces an extra step and a bunch of friction as my signup is interrupted by the need to go find the email and click its link.

Also, if the email address is a unique account identifier, can I plug other people’s emails into the signup form and find out whether they have accounts already? Shouldn’t that be private information?

By: Dork

Dork — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:13:14 +0000

i could think of some cons –

1) if username is the same as the one in the email address, i.e. @.com etc, the user actually needs to type the whole email address, probably double the number of characters or more.

2) i generally don’t like to be “made” to do something, and “making the users use a real name” probably won’t work. i wouldn’t put my real name anyway.

3) internet usernames – everyone has one. that’s the whole thing about the internet. for one, i don’t like to have to specify my actual full name, for anything really.

while i agree with the points you made, i think the best option is to give users a choice. some sites even go further to add in openID etc.

By: Sandro Miguel Marques

Sandro Miguel Marques — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:51:35 +0000

Adrian, I plenty agree with you.

The simple login db table

Id
NickName
Email
Passwd

The login auth read Email and Passwd fields and the name displayed could be the Nickname

Simply is the best

By: Virusescu

Virusescu — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:03:37 +0000

You’re right admin.
Maybe I’ll just state the obvious, but registering and logging-in doesn’t have anything to do with data displayed on site.
If you deal with a big “social network” you can simply let the user choose his Display Name.

By: Razvan

Razvan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:30:52 +0000

I like the idea of using emails as login keys because, with the user’s consent, you can tap into a public API from servives like Google or Yahoo and pick-up extra information that the user might need to fill in his profile page or that can help make your product more useful to him.

By: Overview on login forms | Usability Thoughts

Overview on login forms | Usability Thoughts — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:48:13 +0000

[...] discussed the other day about the login with email vs. username and I came to the conclusion that it depends on the type of the application, if it’s social, [...]

By: admin

admin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:24:36 +0000

it basically depends of the application and it’s purpose