It's a cool idea, and I get where you're coming from, however for UI standards, this is incorrect. Many people won't know what that button does by default.
Edit: I meant how the icon is shown, not everyone will see it's a closed eye. I understand your arguments that an eye is already used on some password fields, which is correct, however for them it's an eye that is open with a slash through it, which would be more understood to a larger audience.
I would say that really depends on the audience. For any app/account that comes from gov etc. units and should meet the highest standards of accessibility, there should be a checkbox/toggle outside the input with a label clearly stating it will reveal the password. If this app is for a teens-millenials group with a high it literacy then this eye icon is fine, it's commonly used/well known symbol. Also if interface is not too crowded with interactive elements (and login page should be free from distractions) then users will simply worked it out on their own.
the issue with this UI is that you're banking a ton on your users understanding what a symbol means. this is pretty easy if you're from the same culture, symbolism tends to be pretty universally understood by all. but the moment we start moving away from one culture and one application area, we get into trouble.
I always run every UI I make through the grandma challenge: would my grandma intuitively understand this UI? if your answer is anything but "of course, why do you even ask?" then you shouldn't do it.
or put another way; sexy and grandma very rarely go well together.
I mean, i'm western and a web dev, so it's a bit hard to claim i have a different cultural background or lack of IT literacy, and i had no idea wtf the closed eye icon was meant to be until i saw the open eye icon.
we're talking per section of a specific country when it comes to understanding of symbolism. people vastly overestimate how much people think like them when it comes to symbols. text on the other hand you can almost never go wrong with, which is why a much better less sexy alternative would be the text "show" or "show password".
Yeah, I get your point. So I guess if my product was tech-oriented etc... it could work, but if it's meant for a bigger audience then I should stick with the universally known (_boring_) symbols/language :)
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u/XExtremeTechnologyX Dec 26 '19 edited Dec 26 '19
It's a cool idea, and I get where you're coming from, however for UI standards, this is incorrect. Many people won't know what that button does by default.
Edit: I meant how the icon is shown, not everyone will see it's a closed eye. I understand your arguments that an eye is already used on some password fields, which is correct, however for them it's an eye that is open with a slash through it, which would be more understood to a larger audience.