Account creation user experience/Testing

These are the testing notes for the Editor Engagement Experiments team's changes to account creation and login for MediaWiki core. This is first and foremost a guide for volunteers who may be interested in testing, but may contain technical notes as well.

Manual testing steps
The following is a simple overview of the steps anyone can use to test the new account creation and login interfaces in MediaWiki.

Account creation

 * 1) Log out of all Wikimedia sites. To test a version with a clear cache and no residual cookies, use a private or incognito browser mode, or clear them manually.
 * 2) Visit the account creation page with   appended. Try one or several of the following methods...
 * 3) * Use the link in the top right menu on the relevant site. Try visiting from Special:Search, the Main Page, a random content page, other namespaces, etc.
 * 4) * Use a browser bookmark, especially if you already do so
 * 5) * Use a wiki link, such as one presented in the edit window to anonymous editors
 * 6) * Type in the URL directly (as best you remember it)
 * 7) * Use a search engine e.g. "Wikipedia signup" etc.
 * 8) Create a new dummy account using any name and password you prefer, just be sure to save them. Make sure form fields, buttons, links, and error messages make sense and ar functioning.
 * 9) Note any bugs you may encounter and be sure to take screenshots of anything problematic!
 * 10) When/if you successful create a new account, log out.

Other notes

 * If $wgLoginLanguageSelector is set (true on all WMF wikis but enwiki), the form displays a set of links to redisplay it in another language.


 * If $wgEmailConfirmToEdit is set (false on all WMF wikis), e-mail is a required field.
 * The form displays a "Reason" field and checkboxes if you create an account while already logged in. The form has JavaScript that hides the password fields when you create an account by email.
 * Extensions may supply additional checkboxes when someone with admin rights creates an account:
 * (antispoof-ignore)
 * (titleblacklist-override)
 * LdapAuthentication) may add a "Your domain" and a &lt;select&gt; field. wikitech/labsconsole uses this extension but doesn't add this.
 * Extensions may add 'extrafields' bits of HTML to login and create account
 * On wikitech/labsconcole, Extension OAuth adds a token input field
 * On wikitech/labsconcole, OpenStackManager adds an "Instance shell account name" (openstackmanager-shellaccountname) field, with a help field for it.


 * If $wgHiddenPrefs does NOT include 'realname' (it's there by default and on every WMF wiki), then user is prompted for "Real name" (yourrealname), with a help field for it.

Login

 * 1) If you previously created a dummy account or were just logged in, be sure to log out. (You do not necessarily need to clear your browser cache or cookies prior to doing so.)
 * 2) Visit the login page with   appended. Try one or several of the following methods...
 * 3) * Use the link in the top right menu on the relevant site. Try visiting from Special:Search, the Main Page, a random content page, other namespaces, etc.
 * 4) * Use a browser bookmark, especially if you already do so
 * 5) * Use a wiki link, such as one presented in the edit window to anonymous editors
 * 6) * Type in the URL directly (as best you remember it)
 * 7) * Use a search engine e.g. "Wikipedia login" etc.
 * 8) Create a new dummy account using any name and password you prefer, just be sure to save them. Make sure form fields, buttons, links, and error messages make sense and are functioning.
 * 9) Note any bugs you may encounter and be sure to take screenshots of anything problematic!

Note: our team's testing checklist includes similar steps and a list of edge cases which may be relevant.

Things to pay attention to

 * First up, and somewhat obvious: can you log in and signup? What errors are produced and do they make sense?
 * Look for red links, which may need to be turned in to redirects or edited.
 * The length of the translated messages. For login in particular, a message that is too long may cause an unnecssary line break for the field descriptions or the description of the account creation call-to-action. We strongly suggest those who might be able to help translate messages try to shorten messages where possible.

Other notes

 * If $wgLoginLanguageSelector is set (true on all WMF wikis but enwiki), the form displays a set of links to redisplay it in another language.
 * The "sign in with secure server" link (userlogin-signwithsecure) should appear if the user is not on HTTPS and the server supports it.
 * "Forgotten your login details?" (userlogin-resetlink) appears in some scenarios.
 * If $wgSecureLogin is set, the form displays a "Stay connected to HTTPS after login" (securelogin-stick-https) checkbox.
 * After 3 incorrect passwords, a CAPTCHA appears.
 * After several failed login attempts for the same username in a short time, you are prevented from attempting further logins with that username. (This is known as "throttling".)

Browser support
Our priority is to test in Grade A and B browsers on the desktop, as described at Compatibility. Note that we are excluding mobile browsers, since mobile account creation and login for mobile web uses an entirely different infrastructure, even if it may be similarly styled. iPads and other mobile devices that default to the desktop site should be tested, however.

Language support
Add  to reveal the message names used in the UI, or , etc. to try a different language code. As a part of MediaWiki core, user login and registration will require complete localization in all languages with active Wikimedia projects. Please test in any and all languages you may be conversant in.