Add New User: Usability Vagueness and Confusion

[sterlo]

Currently if you access /wp-admin/user-new.php and try to add a new user that doesn't already exist, if you try something like 'firstname.lastname' it will throw an error saying:

"Only lowercase letters (a-z) and numbers are allowed."

What's confusing to some users (I had to help a few out today), is that this error shows up at the top of the screen and makes no mention of what field or form it is talking about.

Users (who know very little about the web) thing that the e-mail is wrong because no field name is mentioned in the error. Or that they tried to use the top form and not the bottom because the error is above the one form and not the one they thought they were using (these are actual confusions that I see people having).

One solution could be to make it one form instead of two...if the username and e-mail already exist, it will just add them to the site and not create a new user.

Another solution (or part of the solution) would be to change the error to say something like:

"Add New User: The Username may only lowercase letters (a-z) and numbers are allowed."

TL;DR: We need to come up with an adjustment for this page so that users aren't confused by errors that make no mention of what fields are at fault OR what form the error is relevant to.

[scribu]

Another approach would be to automatically sanitize the username, like it's done when users register themselves.

[edwardw]

Just tried it on trunk revision 18519 - it seems to be OK. When one types in illegal characters for the username, a clear red box appears at the top of the page saying "ERROR: This username is invalid because it uses illegal characters. Please enter a valid username". It now refers to the field and as a side note it now seems to allow periods in the username - "firstname.lastname" went through perfectly.