A very wise man once said:

Every time you ask someone to confirm a password, and angel loses it's wings, a puppy dies, and a kitten is strangled.

OK, so maybe he wasn’t so much a wise man as an arrogant prick, but it was still said on twitter, so… it has to be true, right? Right. Here’s why you should stop living in the past and start removing friction from registration forms by killing password confirmations.

The great wall of registration

In the not-so-distant past, I wrote an article detailing the need to remove abrasive registration forms from end-users and your products – and in doing so you’d increase leads and exposure. I stand by all that was said there, and want to amend the article with the additional logic put forth below.

At an age when users are confronted daily by a host of new services, apps, and websites to sample, we need to move beyond the traditional approach to get humans actually experiencing the products we want them to use. If walls are put up, demos are too short, or software isn’t fluid, those leads are going to be captured by the enemy! What is first and foremost manning the wall of registration? I’ll tell you what… it’s the redundant password.

The password confirmation

OK, so I’m not sure who invented this, but it certainly was before the days of “instant access” and the password reset. I mean, if you’ve created an RIA that’s used by people who can’t even type in their password the same time again and again, then login forms aren’t going to be your biggest problem.

Also, unless you’re in need of a security architect and are protecting the true identity of Batman, you really don’t need to have them include an uppercase, lowercase, digit, symbol, and haiku all in one password. Let’s be honest, it’s just not needed.

Doing it right

Now, I’m not saying this approach will work in every situation. For instance, if you need to authenticate past a simple email address, then you may need some additional credentials here. Another notable exception would be native software for touchscreens and other push devices that don't use a keyboard. However, in general, your login and registration forms should be near identical, with the exception that one has the option to reset the password.

The whole purpose you’ve brought the user to this point is to let them demo, trial, or use your software – you want to wow them with how frictionless and fluid your process is, and convert them with the speed and agility of your interface. You don’t want to weigh them down and make them sacrifice a kidney for the pleasure of a demo.

The way to do this is simple: after you muster the minimal amount of information required to run the software (in most places this will be email and password), you should log them in immediately and get them involved in your product.

In the outrageous circumstance that a user makes a boo-boo while setting their password, they’ll have to experience the tortuous 49-second inconvenience of a reset; and that might be a good place to ask this singular case to please confirm.

So please, put an end to password confirmations. Let’s all move upward and onward together from this unseemly mark in the avant-garde process of creating stellar UI. If you think I'm dead wrong, let's hear your rationale!

One thing I can never seem to find is a cool jQuery plugin for creating placeholders on input fields that persist after focus, and are totally style-able. Now, I know what you’re thinking… “Why not just use HTML5?” Well, because it’s super lame as-is. Nuff said. iCloud.com actually has an awesome working sample of what I’m talking about, and now, so do I.

I’ve whipped together my first jQuery plugin (it mimics the same functionality as iCloud), and with some time to kill during a flight back to the grand ol’ Salt Lake State, I made a cool working copy.

So check it out, use it, abuse it, share it.

The Apple Style jQuery Placeholder Plugin

I'm super excited about the changes coming to CSSButton. So far, we've had thousands of awesome buttons created, and all with a system that can use a lot of help.

The goal for the site is to create a CSS Prototyping tool, that makes it easy to create, share, and discover awesome code. The UI will be simple, and the software will be powerful. Stay tuned! You can follow the project on dribbble for more previews :-).

Also, Happy Valentines day!

Even though Nest is old news, the product is still white hot. If you haven't jumped on the bandwagon, you should. Combining a Silicon Valley startup with the awesomeness of Mike Matas' interface design, this company is sure go to places. The interface is stunning, the product is elegant, and the company is breathing life into an all but stagnated industry.

They just have to overcome getting sidelined by Honeywell's (jagweeds) bogus lawsuit, and they'll be on their way! I love when great design meets great product.

Today I'm diving into a new project for ROQlogic, an already-started startup based in Irvine, CA. Over the next few weeks and months I'll be working with an awesome team to transform key elements of a killer RIA based in flex, into HTML5. I'll also be working to give the UI and UX a facelift, should be a fun enterprise! Yes, I said enterprise. Like Star Trek. Booyah.