Password Requirements

While trying to create an account for the zillionth time on a job application portal, I was prompted to create an account using a email address for my login, and to type a password twice.

While trying to create an account for the zillionth time on a job application portal, I was prompted to create an account using a email address for my login, and to type a password twice.

Initial login screen
Initial login screen
Error message with password requirements
Error message with password requirements

Suddenly, a litany of requirements for the password format pops up, only after I've tried to create a password.

I don't think there was any way I could have created a password that satisfied these requirements on the first try.

How can complex password qualifications be disclosed ahead of time?

Assuming I don't get to change the actual number of password requirements, even if it follows best practices, I mocked up some options below.

Full, normal disclosure.
Representative /skeumorphic disclosure.
Color coordination

In the end, the number of qualifications is still lengthy and takes up space.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's guidelines, passwords should not be too long or complex. They suggest long phrases that are easy to remember.

Using best practices for password creation would improve the user experience by saving space on the page and time reading and comprehending the qualifications, while creating robust and hard to break passwords.

How about current practices, like inline validation, or an interactive info flag?

I love inline validation when it works, but it relies on the performance of the site. I've gone through forms multiple times with the same frustration and only experienced the in-line validation the second time.

I believe it's faster to disclose the qualifications visually in plaintext, and also not hidden behind a microinteraction like an info flag, which requires the user to take the hand off the keyboard and use the mouse.

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