I keep hearing of people who have used Lemmy for a few days or a few weeks and want to start using a mobile version – often Voyager.
They open Voyager for the first time, and get a screen with a button for logging in. They get a choice for which Lemmy instance to join, but no place for entering their existing username or password.
I’ve told them that “in the first screen there is a button that is very difficult to notice, allowing you to use a pre-existing Lemmy username. Find that semi-hidden button, click it, and you can login.”
It is of course a working workaround to pre-emptively tell people that the button exists, is just very well hidden, and needs to be clicked by most people who download Voyager. But still, it would be cool if the screen for new users could be altered so that the ability to log in with a pre-existing username was equally visible as the choice to create a new account!
I asked for a person without a Lemmy account to install Voyager and make some screenshots. So, here’s what my experience was like, and apparently that of others as well. I hope it helps understand in which way the average user is an idiot :) Here goes:
First, I launch the program. This is the screen I get:
So, I’ve already got an account, so I don’t need to join Lemmy. Therefore, I choose the other option, “Pick another server”, in order to tell which server my user account is on, and log in to that server.
Then I’m in this screen:
I choose Sopuli and all I get is a form for creating a new username. But why would I want to create a new one? I tried long-pressing the sopuli.xyz text, and got nothing.
Obviously, in the first screen there is the “Log in” button, but because there was “Join” and “The other option”, I had assumed the “other option” must include the login. The text can be interpreted that way as well.
And, at the point when I was already at the list of Lemmy servers, the “Log in” option was nowhere to see, and I didn’t come up with the idea of going back to the first screen, because I assumed I had already seen both of the buttons there, and I was sure I had pressed the button that was not “Join lemm.ee”.
Then I gave up. Some days later I accidentally launched the program again when I was supposed to do something completely different on my phone. Oops. But, the good thing was, I got to that first screen again. And I double-checked that I’m indeed pressing the “Pick another server” button in order to log in with my pre-existing username, and then I noticed the Log In text that is not a button. And pressed it and found out that yes, Voyager does actually support using pre-existing usernames! And nowadays I’m using Lemmy.
Now I’ve heard of a few people who have installed Lemmy and all of them have first given up, and then tried again after I’ve told them to “look for the hidden Log In button in the first screen”.
“Log in” is what most people will want to do, so people will assume that it will be one of the most prominent buttons. There can be reasons not to make it more prominent than it is; in that case the next screen, with the list of servers, could have a button for “Actually, what I want to do is log in with a username I already have!”
Hey, thanks for the feedback!
So for the select an instance page, I tried to make it so you could login so you can’t get “stuck” here: if you press the ellipse button in the header, there is an option to login. Maybe I could add an ellipse button to each instance, I’m not sure. That might be too much noise.
For the landing page, maybe something like this? Please note, I want to keep the “join” prominent so that new users, without an existing lemmy account, can easily sign up.
(pretend “create an account” is in grey as a label. I made it red to show as a change)
[ Sorry for the wall of text. Can move it to GH Issues, if easier. ]
I sorta agree with the OP’s feedback. Not sure if this is the way Apollo did it or is custom to Voyager. Either way, it could use some streamlining to help users.
From personal experience… was recently unable to login to an instance. Already had an account on a different server. Went to log out of the existing (malfunctioning) account to troubleshoot the problem, then log back in.
Could not figure it out.
Ended up deleting the account then re-adding it in. Was nerve-wracking since the Delete button wasn’t clear if it meant ‘forgetting’ account on Voyager, or ‘deleting’ it entirely on server (see below). Went ahead. Even that took multiple clicks: Profile > Accounts > Edit > Delete.
Went through the same scenario posted by OP to log back in. Ended up mistakenly going to ‘Other,’ which tried to get me to create an account. Nooo. Backtrack. Find the right link, go in, then login again. Phew!
I can see how it could be confusing for people new to the app.
So instead of just whining, here’s a suggested list of user path ways. Offered in the spirit of trying to be helpful. Please feel free to ignore. Not a React person (more of a Vue fan) otherwise I’d add these myself and do a PR.
A lot of this functionality already exists. It’s just a matter of making it easier for a user to access it with as few taps as possible:
[Side note: be nice if there was a way to indent/dedent lists in the comment editor 😬]
Select one, go to individual server register page. When done, go to All page for current account.
Feature creep: allow user to add a little note reminding themself what the server is for. For example server A is for business, server B is for hobby, etc. Show description whenever showing accounts. Allow editing description somewhere sensible.
Extra, extra feature creep: allow user to select color and icon for account, then make it super easy to switch accounts. Under reddit, lots of people had aliases and apps made it easy to toggle (even on a per-post or per-comment basis).
Be nice if there was an icon showing account is logged in vs not. This way, you could easily toggle back and forth between multiple logged in accounts.
Suggest adding Logout as a single, Red item under Settings. Could also have in Profile tab, in an obvious place (another item under list of actions?), again, in red. Confirm, done.
To support fast account switching, may want to make logout change state of account, and Forget/Delete to edit the list.
This should make clear that it logs out and removes from list of accounts, but does NOT delete on server.
Optional Account-related extras:
Migrate
Reset:
Like I said, happy to move this elsewhere or take discussion elsewhere if not clear.
FWIW, Voyager is the main reason I’m sticking around Lemmy. Discovering it was the happiest thing to come out of leaving reddit.
I would say that having three buttons of similar size would do no harm to ease of starting for those with no preexisting account.
So:
[ Join Lemm.ee ]
[ Join another instance ]
[ Log in to your instance ]
The login button could be on a different colour, but its shape and size should be the same as of the two other options, and, in my opinion, it should be grouped together with them.
(And indeed! Voyager is an awesome app and I’m complaining here only because I’ve seen you strive for excellent quality. Thank you very much for this awesome app! ❤️)
I wonder if “Log in” and “Learn more” being of equal size might be confusing?
It’s difficult to say because now that I know the button is there, it feels like only an idiot would miss it. Would need to make human experiments with people who have no experience on Lemmy. Like, make them try to log on with my username on their own phone.
Small suggestion: maybe “sign up” is more clear than “Join”?
“sign up lemm.ee” doesn’t english too well 😛
Thank you, that’s very valuable information!