{
  "id": 15510133,
  "title": "Add autocomplete tokens to your signup form: a five-minute check",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/18/add-autocomplete-tokens-to-your-signup-form-a-five-minute-check",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-18T23:07:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/mercerk17/add-autocomplete-tokens-to-your-signup-form-a-five-minute-check-2c23"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Signup and checkout forms often cause visitors to leave a website before completing a purchase. A simple solution to speed up the filling process and make it easier for users who may have difficulties with typing or remembering the required information is to instruct the browser about the purpose of each field. This is achieved through the use of the autocomplete attribute.\n\nTo implement this, examine each input field on your signup form. If the field collects information about the user, ensure it has an autocomplete token. For fields such as first name, last name, email, and postcode, the appropriate tokens are given-name, family-name, email, and postal-code, respectively. Password fields should use either new-password or current-password tokens, depending on the login process. For one-time codes, use the autocomplete= one-time-code token.\n\nThese tokens are essential as they provide password managers with the necessary information to differentiate between password and login forms. This feature is also beneficial for users with cognitive disabilities, as it makes the forms easier to complete.\n\nThe Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) have identified this practice as a success criterion (1.3.5, Identify Input Purpose). By programatically declaring the type of data expected in each input field, forms become more accessible and user-friendly. Simply declaring the email field using the type= email attribute is not sufficient, as it does not specify whether the field is intended for the user's own email address or someone else's.\n\nAvoid setting autocomplete= off on all fields, as this may hinder password managers from offering to save or fill in login details. While it may seem counterintuitive, removing this hint could actually make the form more challenging to complete for users who rely on password managers.\n\nTo test if your signup form has the necessary autocomplete tokens, open the form in your browser with some saved details. Click into each field and observe whether the browser offers to fill in the information. Count the number of fields where you had to type the information manually. If you had to enter your own name or email address, it is likely that an autocomplete token is missing.",
  "summary": "Signup and checkout forms are where landing pages lose people. One cheap thing that makes them faster to fill, and easier for people who struggle with typing or with remembering what a field wants, is telling the browser what each field is for. That is what the autocomplete attribute does. What to check Open your signup form and look at each input. For fields that collect information about the…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}