Prefill in username field on the navigation strip, when not logged in

[mooism]

Title
Prefill in username field on the navigation strip, when not logged in

Short, concise description of the idea
On friends pages, when the viewer is not logged in, the username field of the navigation strip should be prefilled in with the username of the friends page being viewed.

Full description of the ideaI choose not to leave myself

Comments

[aveleh]

This use would make me pretty uncomfortable. I can see how it would be a benefit to people with certain browsing habits, it's also unexpected behaviour for a username field, and I think in this case that's more important.

[azurelunatic]

+1

[crescent_gaia]

+1

[afuna]

+1 (Couldn't have put it better myself.)

[kunzite1]

the following is an outline for a userscript that could be written:
http://*.livejournal.com/friends*
http://*.livejournal.com/*/friends*
http://livejournal.com/*/friends*

var username = "exampleusername";

if(location.href.indexOf("friends") > -1) {
var xc_user = document.getElementById('xc_user');
if(xc_user) {
xc_user.value = username;
}
}

[afuna]

The suggestion implies that the OP wants this primarily when using someone else's computer -- a userscript won't be very useful in that case (unless the OP regularly uses these computers, and the owners of the computers don't mind him installing Firefox+GM+userscript).

[kunzite1]

oh. good point.

i guess the programmer in me wanted to play with code. ;)

[afuna]

I love GM, but there are times it just isn't the right tool for the job ;)

I want to support this suggestion, but I think the objection that aveleh brought up is too important to ignore.

Possible compromise is being able to click something that will fill in the username of the friendspage being viewed and then automatically put the focus in the password field, but I suspect that:

a) it will seem awkward to click and then switch to the keyboard to type in the password; and

b) it'll clutter up the navigation strip, which is small enough as it is.

[aveleh]

Actually, you could mostly get the functionality you wanted right now if you added http://www.livejournal.com/logout.bml?user=mooism to your friends page. If someone was logged in and looking at it, he'd need to confirm the logout, but when you're not logged in you would be directed to a prefilled page. (Plus if you had a paid account and knew how to edit an S2 layer, you could make it so that it only displayed to already logged out viewers.)

Or, the infinitely easier method of going directly to the homepage, since once you've logged in, it's just one click to get to your friend page, and therefore would only add a single click to your suggestion. And the url/username letters are equivalent. But that's not nearly as cool :D

[matgb]

Re point two; many many users are avoiding the homepage completely these days; I pay for my LJ, I don't need to see a stinking ad before I log in. Especially on a PC that isn't mine and thus doesn't have flashblock et al blocking the ugly things.

Having said that, I virtually always log in from my friends page when I'm at another PC, or at the very least my journal, and I have no real problem typing my name (and it's got more unique characters than Dave's).

Meh, optional opt in, but it's not something I'd want, especially with password manager issues.

[aveleh]

That is a very good point. I only use a couple of computers and they all have ad blocking software, so I absolutely never notice that. That totally changes my perspective.

[jai_dit]

I could see this working on friends pages, like you mentioned in the suggestion, but not for all pages.

[andy]

If this would an opt-in feature (for the owner of the Friends page, certainly), why not?