Rethinking account creation and sign-up forms
Any time a user must sign in to your site, the quality of your sign-up form design directly affects your bounce rate. A poorly constructed form is a real problem for people on slow connections, mobile devices, or those in a hurry. Each lost user is not just a missed sign-up—it's a disgruntled visitor who may not return.
The case for no sign-up at all
Before building a sign-up form, ask whether you need an account system at all. Every feature gated behind login adds friction between users and what they came to do. You're asking users to trust you with personal data, and every stored password or piece of personal information carries what you might call "data debt"—a privacy and security liability for your site.
If the goal is simply to save user data between sessions, consider client-side storage instead. For e-commerce, forcing account creation to complete a purchase is frequently cited as a primary reason for cart abandonment. Make guest checkout the default.
Make sign-in visible and explicit
Make it easy for users to find out how to create an account. A clear Login or Sign in button at the top right of the page is standard. Avoid ambiguous icons or vague wording like "Get on board!" and don't bury login inside a navigation menu. If there's debate about any of this design, use analytics to show the impact of different approaches.
Users who sign in via an identity provider like Google also need to be able to find and manage their email-and-password account. That linking works well when you can pull the user's email address from the identity provider's profile data and match accounts accordingly.
Keep the form focused
In the sign-up flow, the priorirty is simplicity. Minimize complexity and keep users focused. Ask for only the data you need at that moment and collect the rest as it becomes relevant and beneficial for the user to provide.
Don't add double-entry fields for contact details. Users often find this slowing down, and it's unnecessary when forms are autofilled by the browser. A better pattern is to send a confirmation code once the user enters their detail, then proceed with account creation after they respond.
You might also consider a password-free sign-in model, where users receive a code each time they sign in on a new device or browser. Slack and Medium use a version of this. Another approach is federated login. Both have the added benefit of not requiring you to manage user passwords.
Decide on session length
Consider how long users remain signed in and what would cause you to log them out. Mobile users and people on shared desktop devices have different expectations and needs. Make deliberate choices about this behavior and communicate it clearly.
Working with password managers
Your sign-up form can help both browser and third-party password managers suggest and store strong passwords, sparing users the job of creating and remembering them. This means getting the code right.
Use the correct autocomplete attributes. In sign-up forms, use autocomplete="new-password" for over any new password field, and add autocomplete values to other fields wherever possible, such as autocomplete="email" and autocomplete="tel". Using different name and id values for sign-up versus sign-in forms, for the form element and for all input, select, and textarea elements, also helps managers keep things straight.
Always use an appropriate type attribute, as the right value provides the correct keyboard on mobile and enables built-in browser validation.
Enforce secure passwords, not irritating rules
While encouraging users to accept manager-generated passwords is ideal, many will still want to pick their own. The rules you enforce today should reflect the NIST guidance.
Ban compromised passwords
Whatever rules you implement, never permit a password that was exposed in a data breach. Services like Have I Been Pwned offer an API to verify a password isn't compromised, or you can host that checking service yourself.
When you do reject a proposed password, explain the specific reason inline and do it as soon as the user finishes typing it, rather than after form submission. Show them what to fix.
Allow password pasting
Disallowing pasting into password fields is a mistake. That practice frustrates users, often encouraging them to choose simpler, memorable passwords to avoid retyping them. The UK National Cyber Security Centre notes that preventing paste may reduce security. It also does nothing to avoid clipboard vulnerabilities, as the user discovers the restriction only after already copying the password.
Handle passwords securely and don't force updates
Salt and hash all passwords, following verified storage methods, and never invent your own hashing scheme.
Avoid arbitrary, periodic password-change mandates. They create IT costs, annoy users, and do little for security. This approach often pushes people back to simpler, easier passwords or causes them to keep paper records. Instead, watch for suspicious account activity and alert users. Show them their sign-in history, including time and location.
Make password changes and resets painless
Surprisingly difficult password-change flows are a real problem. Make account settings easy to find. If a user's password is compromised, you need to let them change things quickly, reset forgotten passwords easily, and delete their account altogether when asked. Guidance on these matters comes from the OWASP Forgot Password Cheat Sheet.
An important technical step is implementing the /.well-known/change-password URL. Point it at your password-management page so that third-party managers can route users directly there, a feature already present in Safari and Chrome.
Offer federated sign-in
Some users will always prefer a classic email-and-password sign-up form. Even so, you should also give users the option to sign up with a third-party identity provider (also known as federated login).
Federated login removes the need for you to ask for, communicate, or store passwords for those accounts. It can also hand you verified profile data, such as an email address, so users don't have to type it themselves and you skip that verification step. For users moving to a new device, it simplifies access significantly.
For implementation details, see Integrating Google Sign-In into your web app. Many other identity platforms are also available.
Make account switching painless
On shared devices, or in browsers where people juggle multiple accounts, switching must be straightforward. Aim for a low-friction path from one profile to another, whether or not the accounts came from a federated login.
Go beyond a password with MFA
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) requires proof of identity through more than one method. In addition to a password, that can mean a one-time code delivered by email, SMS, or an authenticator app—or a security key or fingerprint scan. See SMS OTP best practices and Enabling Strong Authentication with WebAuthn for implementation guidance.
If your site collects personal or sensitive data, offering MFA is wise; enforcing it is often better.
Don't force a username on users
Require a username only when you genuinely need one. Let users sign up with just an email address or phone number plus a password, or give them a federated login path. Making them invent and remember a separate username adds unnecessary friction.
If usernames are unavoidable, keep the rules lenient and allow users to change them later. Use a unique internal ID in your backend rather than an identifier built from personal data. Also be sure to apply autocomplete="username" to that field.
Verify on real devices
Make sure your sign-up forms work across the devices, platforms, and browser versions that your audience actually uses. Component behavior and viewport sizes differ, and layout issues often show up only in those contexts. For open source projects, BrowserStack offers free testing on a range of hardware and browsers.
Track real user experience
Lab tests alone won't tell you how your forms perform in the wild. You need field data from analytics and Real User Monitoring (RUM) to gauge actual load times, see which interface components get used or ignored, and measure how long a typical sign-up takes. RUM details are covered in the MDN documentation.
- Page analytics: track page views, bounce rates, and exits at each step of your flow.
- Interaction analytics: use goal funnels and events to spot where users drop off and what they click.
- Website performance: watch user-centric metrics to flag slow loads or layout shifts.
Even small adjustments can move completion rates. RUM and analytics let you base those changes on evidence, catch problems that won't surface in local testing, and track the results.
