All web developers at one point or another have to label a login button. A link that takes the user to a screen where they can authenticate themselves, but there doesn’t seem to be any clear concensus as to what to call the “authenticate” and “deauthenticate” functions or even how to write them.
Here are how some of the most popular sites took on this matter:
Notice not only the wording, but also the differences in upper and lower case notations.
| Name | Create session | Destroy session | Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sign In | Sign Out | /login | |
| MSN/Hotmail | sign in | sign out | /login.sfr |
| Sign in | Sign out | /Login | |
| MySpace | sign in | Sign Out | /index.cfm |
| YouTube | Sign In | Sign Out | /login |
| flickr | Sign In | Sign Out | |
| Logout | /login.php | ||
| Sign in | Sign out | /login | |
| Last.fm | Log in | Log out | /login |
| Wikipedia | Log in | log out | /w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin |
| Amazon | Sign In | Sign Out | /gp/yourstore?ie=UTF8&ref_=pd_irl_gw&signIn=1 |
| eBay | Sign in | Sign out | /ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn&ru=http://www.ebay.com/ |
| PayPal | Log In | Log Out | /cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run |
Side notes:
- Twitter is the only one in the list that uses the Login / Sign out combination Twitter has changed its wording to Sign in/Sign out
- Facebook doesn’t seem to have a dedicated Login button that goes to a login screen
- flickr does have a login button, but it uses Yahoo for authentication
Update:
Just an observation, but the more casual the site, the more likely it’s going to use Sign in/Sign out. The paradigm of a visitor making an announcement of presence to a casual gathering of people. More formal sites tend to want you to Log in and Log out. The wording suggests the clocking in for work; The paradigm of a person with an accredited level of authentication accessing a secure terminal and leaving a record of that visit in a log.
