Check User ID Button
by Jared Spool
We’ve all been there. You find a new cool site. You decide to register for their service. You enter your favorite user id, the password, your pet’s birth date, the name of your third grade teacher (the cute one that you had a crush on), and your favorite Easter egg color. You finally press Submit. Then you find out the user id is already taken. Arrgghh!
Digg.com bypasses the ugly post-submit depression by putting a “Check” button next to the user id. Enter the name. Press Check. Find out immediately if your favorite Id is available.
It’s brilliant. Why doesn’t every site have it?
Published here on November 23, 2005.