Can I propose a minor enhancement in Linode Manager Login page:

Auto-focus in Username input form once the page is loaded just like what we get when access Google.

This way users don't have to click mouse in Username first. Once the Linode Manager Login page is loaded, start typing username immediately, really handly.


As simple as add onload event I think, but.. well ... I understand, it's up to you guys.

I let Firefox remember all my username/password combinations, but have them encrypted with a master password. I only need to enter the master password once, and Firefox automatically fills in the username and password fields on every site I visit. I just need to press Enter!

hybinet, don't you still need to put the focus on the form before you can push Enter?

The username field is tabindex1. Try it

Actually, the source code says:

<input name="auth_username" id="auth_username"  type="text" maxlength="32"  border="0"  tabindex="4"  size="16"  />

Am I missing something?

It's still the first item with a defined tabindex. Does the first tab entered on the page not jump to the username field for you, as it does here?

-Chris

Yeah, sorry. I replied before actually testing it.

Damn you're right, I didn't realize what I was doing because I've become so used to it. Still, the username and password are automatically filled in by Firefox so I can just click the "login" button. That puts the focus on the form AND submits it at the same time. About as simple as pressing Enter.

@caker: making the username field tabindex 1 still requires people to press Tab before entering their username. A javascript focus() would be much more convenient. Google, Yahoo, and Live Search all use focus() so that the user can just start typing away.

Looks like we have some consensus: focus() looks better.

Do you have any action plan?

Allow me to express a contrary opinion. As a dialup user (yes, we do exist!), I frequently type a username and password into forms while the page is still loading. It often happens that the page load completes while I am in the middle of typing the password, causing the cursor to jump back to the username field and resulting in something like this:

Username: Vancenter2
Password: **

I then have to delete the extra characters from the end of the username and add them to the password, which is extremely annoying.

If the site designer is a little careful, that's easily avoided, by checking to see whether there's any data in the textfield before executing focus().

Vance has a point. I'm on DSL but I still see it happen on slow websites. focus() is cool, but the script should check if either the username or the password field already has the focus.

Something like:

window.onload = function() {
    if (username.focused == false && password.focused == false) {
        username.focus();
    }
}

Ahh, interesting, don't know much about Javascript so didn't realize one could make the form smart enough not to jump fields.

You'd think Yahoo would have the smarts to be able to implement this, but apparently they don't...

Linode has not done this yet either - that slap at Yahoo might sting a bit. I know that Linode could implement this easily - for a crew with Linode's technical chops this is far below trivial - but this item is a business rather than a technical matter.

James

Sorry, seems my choice of words was unclear. My dig at Yahoo was because their login form Javascript always jumps the cursor to the username field when the onload() event fires, when as Xan and hybinet point out it could be a lot more intelligent about things.

Doing nothing and relying on the browser's default behavior - as Linode's login page currently does - is just fine by me.