I've spent a lot of time helping my 80 year old neighbor with life tech tasks. I've noticed that she seems to be okay with usernames/passwords as long as they're in her password book.
But the site layout can make entering the credentials near impossible. For example, on the login page of the California DMV https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/mydmv , the form submission button is below the fold on her 720p laptop. She has to scroll down the login page to log in. She often asks what she should do next because she can't see the button!
If the password isn't in the book we have to go through the forgot password flow. That's usually fine because her email works, but it's offensive to have to log in again after we've reset the password. It's painful to watch someone type these modern passwords, but it's cruel type it three times in a row: once to enter the new password, a second to confirm it, and then the third to actually log in. I'd much rather have the emailed magic link log me in rather than take me to the password reset page.
I often wish that companies would:
0. not actually require account creation (I can walk up to the DMV counter; why do I need to create a password to do it online?)
1. stick to a simple, well established authentication pattern
2. make the buttons large enough
3. make all of the relevant information visible without scrolling on a 720p laptop (with too many pixels taken up by Chrome's tab bar, Windows' task bar, etc.)
4. not have clickable things to sidetrack us (your survey? chatbot popup? an ad? all nightmares)
But the site layout can make entering the credentials near impossible. For example, on the login page of the California DMV https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/mydmv , the form submission button is below the fold on her 720p laptop. She has to scroll down the login page to log in. She often asks what she should do next because she can't see the button!
If the password isn't in the book we have to go through the forgot password flow. That's usually fine because her email works, but it's offensive to have to log in again after we've reset the password. It's painful to watch someone type these modern passwords, but it's cruel type it three times in a row: once to enter the new password, a second to confirm it, and then the third to actually log in. I'd much rather have the emailed magic link log me in rather than take me to the password reset page.
I often wish that companies would:
0. not actually require account creation (I can walk up to the DMV counter; why do I need to create a password to do it online?)
1. stick to a simple, well established authentication pattern
2. make the buttons large enough
3. make all of the relevant information visible without scrolling on a 720p laptop (with too many pixels taken up by Chrome's tab bar, Windows' task bar, etc.)
4. not have clickable things to sidetrack us (your survey? chatbot popup? an ad? all nightmares)