Propose new features
Designing Decidim together
Add nickname autofilling to the sign up form
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Our clients report that many of their users do not understand the difference between name and nickname when they sign up :
- some don’t know what to input (it can be creative out of the blue ;))
- some feel like they are asked to input the same info twice and find it annoying
- some will create errors by inputing special characters* or going over the limit (25)
- Constraint not mentioned in a help text that the user discovers with an error message after sending the form
This creates unnecessary frictions at a crucial step.
Describe the solution you'd like
In order to make it easier to sign up on Decidim, we propose
- to automatically fill the user nickname field using the name input
- hide the nickname field on the signup form to avoid any confusion*
*(what is this second field ? why is it autofilled ?) + they can always change it later in their account settings
We propose to generate the nickname in the following way :
- delete spaces
- no uppercase
- delete special characters
- 25 characters
- when duplacate add a number that can be incremented
- keep 2 characters for numbers at the end
Example :
Name : Constantin Guillaume de La villardière → Nickname : constantinguillaumedela
If a other users register with the same name we’ll have :
constantinguillaumedela1
constantinguillaumedela2
.
.
constantinguillaumedela99
Describe alternatives you've considered
-
Additional context
This was tried by Platoniq on one of their instance, they told us it really helped with registration.
This proposal is part of a larger scope to improve authentication flow in Decidim. Working document here (External link).
Does this issue could impact on users private data?
No
Funded by
OSP and Angers
This proposal is being evaluated
This proposal is affected by the redesign process and will be used as feedback for the design team.
List of Endorsements
Report inappropriate content
Is this content inappropriate?
Comment details
You are seeing a single comment
View all comments
Conversation with Virgile Deville
Hello @carol
Discussing this today with @microstudi and @paarals ! They've implemented a version of this feature where the nickname field remains visible. Since there are argument for hiding (unclutter the sign up form, avoid confusion related to autofill etc.) and keeping visible the field (allow user to choose easily its nickname, explain how it will be useful for mentions etc.) we decided to conduct a quick user test.
Test setup :
User profile : 26 year old women, first sign up on decidim, familiar with participatory website, saavy around computers, education Post Graduate (Msc). User flows :
- Sign up on https://nightly.decidim.org/
- Sign up on https://decidim-signup.dev.pokecode.net/
- Sign up on https://decidim-signup.dev.pokecode.net/ with the nickname div hidden with CSS
Results :
The user found it was faster to sign up on https://decidim-signup.dev.pokecode.net/ but didn’t really notice the app was autofilling the nickname.
Once I told her she felt more confortable when the nickname field was visible so that she knows she has one and can choose to change it during signing up. When I asked her to find by herself how to change her nickname, she went on her public profile, the found the update profil button and change it. She said she found the sequence not very intuitive. To conclude, I suggest we keep the nickname field visible. If admin want to change it they can just a css override :
div > .user-nickname label {
display: none;
}
Can't edit my comment bcse of bug.
Here is the test setup I used :
- Sign up on https://nightly.decidim.org/ (normal sign up)
- Sign up on https://decidim-signup.dev.pokecode.net/ (autofil active, nickname div visible)
- Sign up on https://decidim-signup.dev.pokecode.net/ (autofil active, nickname div hidden)
Thanks @virgile_deville for the test. On the other hand, as the staging system is in place, I encourage everyone to test it an give their opinion on the matter.
I personally fell like we shoudn't hide the nickname when registering, in the end is autofilled.
We had a conversation with Product about this. My points:
we are not relying hardly anything on nicknames to use or navigate the app (I think it was required to use the nickname to make a mention, but I have just discovered you can also use the name)
So: if nicknames are not used for anything, and it's an alien concept to a high # of users (thinking on public sector), why bothering them in one of their first and more important interactions with something that will make them doubt? Anything that sits in their path to completing the signup as fast as possible and with the least uncertainty should be removed.
Having the nickname, even if it's autofilled, generates uncertainty and doesn't provide any value. So I see no reason to make it visible.
Loading comments ...