Register My Login to Join Your Account

One of the details that can be tough to keep track of with a large or fast-moving website is language consistency. Of course, to be consistent, you need to decide what to use. I did an audit of the most popular English-language sites (as determined by Alexa and Compete), to see how three key phrases were being used. These were:

Login/Log In/Sign in – The action of authorizing your account.
My/Your – My Movies, Your Account, etc.
Join/Sign Up/Register/Create – Creating a new account.

Here is the raw data, see below for some analysis.

adultfriendfinder.com login my join
aim.com sign in my join/get
amazon.com sign in your start
aol.com sign in my sign up
bankofamerica.com sign in your* enroll
blogger.com sign in my create
craigslist.com login N/A sign up
deviantart.com login N/A become/join
ebay.com sign in my register
facebook.com login my sign up
flickr.com sign in your create
fotolog.com log in/login my join
friendster.com log in my sign up
go.com (espn) sign in my register
google.com sign in my create
hi5.com log in my join
imageshack.us login my signup
imdb.com login my register
live.com sign in my sign up
mininova.com login my register
msn.com sign in my sign up
myspace.com login my sign up
neopets.com login my sign up
photobucket.com log in my join
pogo.com sign in my register
rapidshare.com login my join
store.apple.com login* N/A create/set up
veoh.com log in my register
walmart.com sign in my create
wikipedia.org log in create
wordpress.com login my sign up
yahoo.com sign in my sign up
youporn.com login my register*
youtube.com log in my sign up

* Inconsistent

“My” is the clear winner over “Your”, with 27 mys, 3 yours, and 2 that avoid using possessive pronouns.

“Login” takes the edge over “Sign In”, 20-14. “Sign In”, however, seems to be more popular with the biggest of the big sites, like Yahoo, Microsoft’s sites, and Google. I’d say this is a tossup, and I have a feeling that in a few years signup with come to dominate. Of those using login, 13 use “login”, and 7 use “log in”, with the space.

There’s a plurality of choices for sign up, with “sign up” being used on 12 sites. 7 used join, 7 used register, 6 used create (an account), 1 used start, and 1 used enroll. This is not an independent choice, however, as “sign up” is often seen where “log in” is used, and sites that use “sign in” use something like “register”. AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo use “sign in/sign up”. I suspect that some people think using such similar phrases would be confusing, and I agree, despite the appeal of the general consistency.

My preference is to use “my, “log in”, and “sign up”. “Join” seems ambiguous, “register” seems bureaucratic and expensive, while “create an account” just feels a little dorky.

Dishonorable Mention: The Apple Store, supposed paragon of usability and attention to detail, is the worst offender on this list in terms of mixing and matching the terms, often on the same page. They also fail miserably on one major point, there’s no logout button!