this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Back in the old times, on the sites I log in regularly, my browser filled in both username and password. I clicked "Log in" once, and I was set to go.

But no more. Now it's all first a username, then a password. From what I saw, Apple started this many years ago, but now this bother really spread. And it's not like I can just double-click on the same screen area, oh no. Animations make sure that I have to wait several hundred milliseconds before the password field is there, and depending on the site, I even have to select from my browser, which login I want to use, twice!

Why, oh why?

All my screens are really big enough to display 2 text fields. What are arguments for this behavior? I don't see any.

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[–] [email protected] 165 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

A lot of services these days support multiple forms of authentication. Did you sign up with a separate password? Did you use Google or Facebook auth? Is this a corporate account where auth is via their SSO? They don't even know whether they should ask for your password until they know who you are.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s the best explanation I heard so far.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As someone who just built one of these, that is the exact reason we did it.

It would be cool if users just remembered which service they used to sign in, but they often don't, so this is the next best thing. Tell us your email, we look up which service you used, then send you to that service to complete the login.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Pro tip: leave the password field on the site but make it invisible. So when I am using my password manager to fill in the username, the password field will be filled out too. And I don't have to use my password manager twice for one login.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

1Password actually is really good at handling these two step login screens, for me it always autofills the password correctly

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So far Bitwarden has been doing great for me, too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you using the auto-fill on page load? I heard that is a security risk.

For me I have to <> <>, <> <>

To login to these forms, and on mobile this means unlocking my vault twice (which happens to be a bit annoying bc my Face ID is broken)

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

1Password is great, I just switched to it recently after the LastPass kerfuffle and the UX is lightyears better

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

This is the answer. I've had to build it a handful of times and it always feels bad.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So exposing information about users (how they log in) without authenticating that you're someone authorized to have that information?

The better way to do this is to just have "log in with Google" or whatever buttons.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

As I mentioned elsewhere in the thread, most users don't remember what they used when they created the account, particularly if it's something they don't use often. It's also cumbersome to have to input that, especially if you bundle that with an optional password field.

That's not to say you don't have a point about leaking that information. Personally I'd be more concerned about leaking the fact that I have an account at all. If this is a concern for you, you are likely not inclined to use the likes of Google Auth or Facebook Auth. You'd be better off using a unique password for each service, store them in some sort of password manager, and rely on the default behavior treating "local account" and "no account" the same in terms of showing you the password field.

Maybe that's not your preferred behavior, but it does allow you to keep that data private while simultaneously being easier to use for the SSO users.

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[–] [email protected] 118 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Similarly, platforms that default to a massive CREATE AN ACCOUNT box centered on the screen and make you play Where's Fucking Waldo trying to find the size 8 "Log In" hyperlink.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because new signups are more valuable than existing users.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

That, plus the majority of users seeing the login screen are probably new. At least, unless it's one of those annoying sites that makes you log in every single time.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Oh how much I hate it. I want to log in once in my lifetime. You can log me out when I die.

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I wouldn't mind the separate pages for username / password if the "remember me on this device" checkbox weren't fucking useless 99% of the time.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Oh yes.

That probably is not covered by the functional cookies that’s the maximum which I allow any site.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Microsoft:

Stay signed in?

This will decrease how many login prompts you see.

⬜ Remember on this device

No Yes

Why isn’t the checkbox implied if I press Yes?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Is it ever not useless?

[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I believe it is so they can support various different SSO providers.

Like, oh you're trying to log in as Peter, well you're a member of the Initech domain, which uses the Initrode SSO, so let me redirect you to their SSO login page.

Oh, you're Bill, you just use a password you pleb. Here's your text box.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Initech

You wouldn’t happen to have 8 bosses, would you?

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 year ago

Nowadays it is possible to set up many services in such a way that you authenticate in a different way from a password, for example with an app on a smartphone. Such services can't ask you for your password until you have told them what account you want to log into because it might turn out you have to give them something other than a password.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago

I think it's due to single sign on (SSO) or other means of authentication (OAUTH), which is convenient when used.

But I agree, annoying if you use username and password.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

yeah i noticed this as well. extremely annoying, i'm sick of UX getting shittier and more annoying for the vague promise of 'security'. having to get my phone out to login to youtube is a fucking downgrade, plain and simple.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Federation. Your email address could either be local creds, or federated with google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, etc.

When you submit your email address, it determines how you will be authenticating when you submit it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

That could be done after the user enters both the email/username and password

Edit: sorry, I think I misunderstood what you said, but if someone is using something like "sign in with google", we've had separate buttons for that for ages.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I think it might solve the problem that people often don't remember if they created their account using SSO or with an email/password combo. So the site looks up your email to see what login method you use in order to redirect you to the proper prompt.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, with a limited set of federations you can have the user make that choice beforehand. But sometimes the options are changing all the time and/or you don't want to announce all the services you're federating with, or it wouldn't make sense anyway.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It started as defense against credential stuffing and a speed bump against brute force attacks. Not only is it additional loads for a bot to do, but passive captcha can be put between the steps. Now I think its becoming fashionable.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I cant answer about the separation of username/password, but unnecessary animations seem to be a product of the ensh*ttification of the web

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There's two reasons I can think of. One is direct resistance by services to password auto-fill during the aughts (it was new and scary) and separating the account field and pass field defeated auto-fill detection at the time. Amazon separated account and password around then and it's been that way since.

The other is your secret picture, a preventative measure against phishing attacks used by banks and other commercial interests, When you create an account, you're asked to select a stock image and a phrase that the site shows you when asking for your password. That way you know it's really the bank's site and not a phishing site.

Right now I think I have only one web account that uses such a protection.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Google does this best. It hides the password field but it can still be picked up by bitwarden and other password managers so will already be auto-filled when you press next.

I still hate that form of login though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It still gets filled in by all browsers I have. From usability point of view it’s less chance someone press enter after putting in their login name thus leaving the password field empty and getting refused. This will often lead to a disruption friction of their workflow (don’t know the proper English word)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The JS to detect an empty password field and only enabling Enter onchange is way simpler than the code for two separate pages. I actually implemented the former once.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Probably a security measure to slow down brute forcing

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