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As an amateur webdesigner and programmer, as well as a Web 2.0 junkie, I come across many websites these days requiring user registration. You know the drill — pick a username, password; enter your zipcode/location; tell them your gender, birthdate; etc. Some sites design these forms better than others; there really is a lot of work that goes into this crucial step of acquiring new users. If I’m too distracted or overwhelmed to even sign up, then, depending on the site, there may be no reason to stick around. Some sites, like today’s feature, digg, don’t necessarily require a registration, but doing so unlocks a lot of added benefits. (Customizable frontpage, some networking features, not to mention the ability to submit stories.) So, without any further blabbing, let’s get into it!

The User Experience

As I said earlier, digg does not require registration to use the basic functionality of the site. In fact, according to the latest official data from the company, only 1M of their supposed ~33M monthly unique visitors are registered. (~3%) (According to a sleuth programmer, that number is probably more like 3M at this point, which is just under 10%.) However, with registration comes the ability to submit stories; hitting the front page of digg is considered a rite of passage among some geek/blog communities. Registration also allows users to network with other users and send “shouts”, as well as see what their friends are digging.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the highly-anticipated recommendation engine that recently launched as well (obviously available only to registered users). According to digg, the total number of diggs were up 40% after the engine launched, and commenting is up 11%. In all, the recommendation seems to have been a success for existing users, but they haven’t said if it has increased the number of registered users on the site.

The Registration Process

Let’s take a quick look at digg’s registration page.

As you can see, there are quite a few fields to fill out initially. I counted twelve input boxes and one checkbox. This seems overwhelming to me. “Page One”, as I call it, of the user registration experience should only include the absolutely necessary information for the user to register and use the site. For digg, this should be:

• Username
• Password & Verification
• Email Address & Verification
• “Are you human” CAPTCHA
• TOS Agreement Checkbox

That’s a total of 7 input fields, an almost 41% reduction. Once that page is submitted, the user should be greeted with a page saying, “Thank you for registering! An email verification is on its way, but while you’re waiting, why not start filling out your profile by telling us a little more about yourself?” At which point they’ll be prompted to supply their name, location, gender, birthdate and all other fields geared more towards profile functionality.

I understand that they probably want to learn as much as possible about their users, making information such as location, birthdate and gender very importrant fields, but there are nicer, more subtle ways of obtaining that information.

Error Checking

Another crucial aspect of registration pages is, how polite and useful are your error messages when a user doesn’t complete the form as intended? This has become something of an art in recent years, as more and more clueless everyday users start using these registration processes. With AJAX becoming ever more popular, users are now able to get feedback right on the spot, without even having to submit the form. For example:

Without having to submit the form, digg told me that the username ‘joeblow’ was already taken. The form also verified that my email address appeared valid (and that it’s a good thing), and warned me that the two addresses that I entered don’t match. Finally, since I was about to enter my desired password, it gave me a heads-up, saying that the password has to be at least 6 characters long.

These instant-feedback mechanisms dramatically increase the overall experience. If a user can fill out the form without seeing any exclamation points, they can rest assured that once they submit it, everything should go just fine. And it makes it easier on digg’s verification process to validate the fields in real-time, rather than verifying them all en masse when the form is submitted.

And just for kicks, let’s just submit the form blank and see some of the possible errors:

The developers over at digg are obviously having a little fun with those exclamations, and while they don’t lend much to the overall helpfulness of the message, they do help the user feel like they’re not a complete idiot.

Wrap-up

In all, I would score digg’s user registration a solid  B+. The AJAX validation is key nowadays, and the helper text below each field as they are selected is also crucial. However, I can’t ignore the overall intimidation I feel when loading the page. Twelve fields is just way too much for a site like digg. The profile-specific fields should be left to fill in later on.