Monday, October 9, 2017

login - Is there a problem with hiding "forgot password" until it's needed?


To be honest, I don't really see any use for the "forgot password" button/link unless the user put in a wrong password before. In my current project, we need as much space as possible and I was thinking about showing it only when needed. My colleague talked about "Accessibility"-reasons why it is not possible, but also couldn't give me a real argument.


What is your take on it?



Answer



Let me try to paint a picture to explain why your comment below is a huge oversight.



Tbh I don't really see any use for the "forgot password" button/link, unless the user put in a wrong password before.




Imagine a scenario where the users come to your application after a while and they don't remember the password. It means, they already know that an account exists but they haven't used it in a long time so they have definitely forgotten the password.


In this scenario, the first thing they'd do is ... ?


They will look for a password recovery option which is something in the lines of a "Forgot Password" option.


In such a condition, the user hasn't put in a wrong password yet, but they need that option


Your colleague is absolutely right about accessibility. Hiding critical actions and information selectively is a very bad practice.


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