Pros and Cons for having same form for login, register and forgotten password

I have notice some sites have the same form for login, register and forgotten password.

Below the form you have 3 buttons

• i forgot my password


• register


• log me in

What are the pros and cons on using this approach and which version would you go for.

Answer

There should always be links to register and forgot username/password pages on your login page.

Using a single form with 3 different buttons sharing the same username/password fields would be confusing. Moreover, it's probably not possible:

• Registering normally requires extra info in addition to username and password (at least, retyping the password to confirm).


• Forgetting the password is infrequent and requires the user to submit some other form of authentication (e.g. secret question, their e-mail address on file, confirmation that they want it e-mailed).

On the other hand, having separate areas (forms) for register and login operations on the same page could work well.

Registration form on the login page improves the experience for new users (at the cost of clutter for existing users).

This works well for sites that are not re-used frequently and where smooth new user experience is a priority. Good example is a shopping site which gets many first-time users. Their goal is to order merchandise with as few obstacles as possible. For such a site, registration should feel as minor part of the checkout. Having it on a different page feels like an extra side-step and an impediment in the process.

Forgetting a password (or username) is an infrequent scenario. I think a separate page is sufficient, and does not clutter the main workflow.