username exists error on signup page deletes password

[Matthew Davis]

I just signed up for a new account here: https://login.launchpad.net/

I typed in a value into the username field. Nothing happened, so I assumed that means my username is fine.

Then I typed in a password, and clicked "create".

I received an error message telling my my username is already taken.
Both password fields were erased.
My browser did not remember the password.

There are several things wrong with this.

1. Choosing a username on any site is difficult, because everything you want is already taken. So the form should make it quick and easy to tell whether a name is already taken. I shouldn't have to submit the form to find out. Every time I change the value of that field, it should automatically do a check, and print an error message instantly. The Github signup page is a good example of this working.

2. Both password fields were erased when this error message appeared. So I have to type them again. This means that iterating through usernames until you get an original one is very slow. It also means that it is very likely I will mistype my password. I tried 3 usernames before I got one that worked. It's likely that the 5th and 6th times I type my password, I am so frustrated that I mistype the password. Then later on I can't log in, because I'm typing the password I entered the 1st and 2nd time, not the one I entered the 5th and 6th time.