What patterns or idioms exist for GUI requring user to provided 4 distinct sets of login creditials?

Background:

The application I am working on happens to be web-based, but the question applies to any GUI. I need to request three distinct pieces of information from the user four times -- each set is for one of four servers. There is no commonality between the sign-on for each server, or in other words, the four sets of credentials are unique.

Single-sign-on after the initial logins are done is available. Once the user logs into a server, the status is persisted on the main view of the application.

This is currently implemented via four separate links, that upon clicking, display a pop-up dialog for the user to enter in their information for the corresponding server they selected.

Question:

I was considering this design and trying to think of a way to make the multiple login process easier on the user. I have a few ideas, but wanted to first see if they compared to what ideas of the collective consciousness of the stackoverflow community might have.

Thanks for the help,

-bn

Interesting idea, I don't agree that form on a window, or a form that happens to be "popped up" is really any different. Would the single form have a single "Login" button; if so how do you reasonably display validation and success/failure messages to the user?Thanks for the response!

bn 2009-11-13 21:46:45

Oh, I think it's a _big_ improvement to save the user 3 clicks that pop up 3 separate dialogs. Each click takes users on average 2.65 seconds, not counting the the server response to show the pop-up, nor the time for the user to visually acquire and orient to the new window. Think of the equivalent CPUs cycles -we'd never tolerate that kind of waste in our algorithms. Why tolerate it for the user's "CPU cycles"?

Michael Zuschlag 2009-11-13 23:08:54

Michael,Agreed, however, I was not saying that the popup form had to be initiated by a user clicking a link (this is just the current implementation). This could be done by "popping" up the form automatically; then upon each login display success and automatically move to the next login, without having to click another link.I am trying to think about what would work for the user, not just what won't work for the user, new ideas are welcomed -- your statement is an example of why I asked the original question in the first place.Thanks for your input,-bn

bn 2009-11-15 02:31:44

@[bn]: minimize unnecessary motion in the GUI; if all four subforms fit on the screen then pop-ups are unnecessary. good luck!

Steven A. Lowe 2009-12-25 01:02:28

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What patterns or idioms exist for GUI requring user to provided 4 distinct sets of login creditials?

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