Upgrade StorageFeedback on Email Validation Process
The now-required email validation step after creating a new account is confusing for new users.
1. Users can no longer access Zotero's homepage (zotero.org) when logged into a new account with an unverified email address as all pages redirect to zotero.org/settings/email. This step doesn't necessarily look like a required part of the registration process, but rather a suggestion, making it confusing that other pages on the site have become inaccessible after creating an account.
2. Email verification links don't redirect to verify the user's email after logging in. So a user who registers for an account on their computer but clicks the verification link on their phone will log into Zotero and then will have to click the verification link again. This is unexpected behavior that leads to users thinking the verification link failed.
3. After a user verifies their email, they're redirected to zotero.org/user/validate, which gives directions for setting up Zotero syncing. These directions and screenshots are out-of-date.
I'm an academic librarian, and these are all real points of confusion a new Zotero user encountered while registering for an account. Are there plans to change or clarify any parts of the process?
1. Users can no longer access Zotero's homepage (zotero.org) when logged into a new account with an unverified email address as all pages redirect to zotero.org/settings/email. This step doesn't necessarily look like a required part of the registration process, but rather a suggestion, making it confusing that other pages on the site have become inaccessible after creating an account.
2. Email verification links don't redirect to verify the user's email after logging in. So a user who registers for an account on their computer but clicks the verification link on their phone will log into Zotero and then will have to click the verification link again. This is unexpected behavior that leads to users thinking the verification link failed.
3. After a user verifies their email, they're redirected to zotero.org/user/validate, which gives directions for setting up Zotero syncing. These directions and screenshots are out-of-date.
I'm an academic librarian, and these are all real points of confusion a new Zotero user encountered while registering for an account. Are there plans to change or clarify any parts of the process?
For 1, I appreciate this feedback. We have had a couple people obviously confused by this, but it sounds like it's less obvious than I thought that it is now a requirement. One confounding factor is that we *do* allow some things, like posting to the forums for help, without verifying an email.
Do you know if the people you're supporting are not seeing/reading the banner at all, or are just not interpreting the message as a requirement?
I don't have a large sample size at the moment, but our problem was mostly the interpretation. Even after reading the banners, it took us a while to make the connection that it was the email verification requirement that was keeping us on the settings page.