Position of Login/Register button

12 May 2010 - 2:53pm
3 years ago
7 replies
1209 reads
iOddJobBob
2010

We are currently doing a study for a site and are debating where the login/register link should be on the site. Where do users generally perceive it to be? Are there any case studies on this topic? thanks in advance!

Comments

12 May 2010 - 5:03pm
Vance Vagell
2009

Yes, see the "Login/Register" section of Examining User Expectations for the Location of Common E-Commerce Web Objects (Michael Bernard, 2002).

However, I suspect that user expectations have changed since 2002 due to new high-profile sites, which put login in the upper-right (e.g., Facebook).

You could repeat the experiment from the study with your own users; it's fairly simple but requires a decent sample size.

- Vance

12 May 2010 - 7:38pm
cre8pc
2008

I'd like to see a newer study too. It's been my experience from testing hundreds of sites that the standard has become upper right, typically above the header.  On ecommerce sites, when combined with "View Cart" or "My account", it sends a signal to users that they can interact with the site.

My guess is that site visitors now expect the login/pw to be in the upper right and if moved elsewhere, may feel frustrated if they have to search for it.

-- Kim Krause Berg

 

12 May 2010 - 8:30pm
Alan James Salmoni
2008
Can you do any testing? Perhaps with a couple of mock-ups and the only difference being the login/register position. Just take it out on the street and ask random passers-by to point to the login position. It shouldn't take too many resources and will make you feel more confident about a final design candidate. Plus if anyone in the organisations disagrees with the positioning, you have evidence to back yourself up.
16 May 2010 - 4:12am
gunnarandreassen
2010

Upper/lower - has to do with design of content - but it seems to be a rule that it should be on the right side.

16 May 2010 - 7:30am
Puja
2008

Perhaps Priority has set the rule to place Login/register buttons at the top and user mental model is also set.  User percieves it to be present at top right hand side corner, however to judge this some UT can be conducted, though it aslo depends upon your context, if the logged in state only provides the personalization, probably then you can play with the position, however if detailed info is present and dont play much with the placement of this.

  Cheers,   Pooja R   Interaction design

On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 4:08 AM, iOddJobBob <rob.levin2@gmail.com> wrote:

We are currently doing a study for a site and are debating where the login/register link should be on the site. Where do users generally perceive it to be? Are there any case studies on this topic? thanks in advance!

(((Pl
17 May 2010 - 12:00pm
Dustin Kirk
2006

You could do research... and there is nothing wrong with doing research on this topic. Just weigh the benefits of spending someone's time and money doing so. It takes 60 seconds to see that 10 out of 10 of the most trafficked websites on the internet all place persistent Login/Register buttons in the top right. You will also find that it is advantageous to duplicate the login/register information on the 'home' screen or other likely points of entry.


Sometimes these things are not rocket science.-d-

On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 5:55 AM, Puja <Puja9980@gmail.com> wrote:

Perhaps Priority has set the rule to place Login/register buttons at the top and user mental model is also set.  User percieves it to be present at top right hand side corner, however to judge this some UT can be conducted, though it aslo depends upon your context, if the logged in state only provides the personalization, probably then you can play with the position, however if detailed info is present and dont play much with the placement of this.   Cheers,   Pooja R   Interaction design On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 4:08 AM, iOddJobBob <rob.levin2@gmail.com [1]> wrote:
We are currently doing a study for a site and are debating where the login/register link should be on the site. Where do users generally perceive it to be? Are there any case studies on this topic? thanks in advance!
(((Pl

(((Please l
21 May 2010 - 11:56pm
Ivan Burmistrov
2009

Definitely upper right corner of the screen -- all research is already done:

Roth S. P., Schmutz P., Pauwels S. L., Bargas-Avila J. A., Opwis K. (2010) Mental models for web objects: Where do users expect to find the most frequent objects in online shops, news portals, and company web pages?, Interacting with Computers 22 (2), 140-152 | ScienceDirect

 

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