The tap
Tap targets.
Make the box bigger.
You try to tap Create account on your phone. The words are 12 pixels tall. Your thumb lands on the field under them.
The short answer
Pad the submit control until its box is at least 16 pixels tall and 16 pixels wide. Stumblet flags that control, or the first fillable field, when the rounded height or width is under 16. A checkbox and a link that is not that control are left out. The window is 1100 by 760.
Walk your signup
Why the tap misses
The button is a line of type. No padding. On a phone you hit the field, or the line under the button, and the account never starts. 12 pixels tall is under the line, so the finding fires. 16 pixels tall, in the desktop window, is not this finding, even when it still feels tight. Pad it past 16. On a phone, make the button the width of the form.
Padding grows the box the walk measures. Margin around the control does not. The label beside a field is not the box. The input is. A checkbox and a text link are the taps people miss, and the walk leaves them out unless that link is the submit control. Pad those too.
What Stumblet flags
1Create account is a tiny tap target
The submit control is under 16 pixels on one side. A button that says Create account, 12 pixels tall and 88 wide, is the example. The title is Create account is a tiny tap target. The title does not put quotes around the name. The fix is Make “Create account” a larger tap target. The line is “Create account” is too small to tap. The rank is 45.
The button wins even when a field is tiny too. The title and the fix clip the name at 32 characters. The line clips it at 40. A longer name keeps one character fewer, trimmed, and then an ellipsis. The first character is made a capital. A trailing colon or asterisk is dropped.
Specific findings sort by rank, highest first. An earlier screen wins a tie. The card finding shares rank 45. Password rules that are missing rank at 50. A show-password miss ranks at 44, so this one sits above it. Unmarked required fields rank at 41 and are a generic form finding, so they sit behind it. That check is on required fields. A button that only says Continue ranks at 35. That check is on button text. The questions below have the rest of the order. The report keeps five fixes.
2A field, when the button is big enough
When the submit control is missing, or its box is 16 or more on both sides, the first fillable field under 16 is named. Email at 10 pixels tall, beside a button at 40, is Email is a tiny tap target. The fix is Make “Email” a larger tap target. A select counts. A textarea counts. The box is the control itself, so set a minimum height on the input.
A checkbox is left out. A radio is left out. A hidden input is left out. A trap field is removed first. One tiny checkbox, with a normal button, is not this finding. Put the checkbox inside its label and pad the label. That is the tap a thumb can hit. The required tick box is a different finding, on terms box.
A link counts when it is the submit control. Create account as a text link, with no button ahead of it, is measured. Terms, Forgot password, and Sign in are left out when a button wins. Pad those links, or make the way in a button. The questions below have the pick order.
3The desktop window, and a mock that stays the same size
The window is 1100 by 760, with a device scale of 1. The walk does not open a phone. A control that is roomy in that window and tiny on a phone is not this finding. Thumb reach is not measured. The Mobile thumb persona stays locked. Every screen the walk plans is still checked, including a screen with no email field.
The mockup does not make the control larger. When this finding is the one drawn, the button stays as it was, or Create account when the step has none. The line under the mock is the fix. The after heading is the step's headline when there is one. With no headline, it uses the screen name, unless that name is the button or the document title, and then it is Create your account.
A higher finding can be the one drawn instead. A finding whose screen, or what the step did, says hands off to is not the one drawn. The questions below have the dropped labels, and when there is no mockup.
Questions
Which control is measured?
The submit control first. When that box is tiny, the field is left out, even when a field is tiny too. When the submit control is missing, or its box is not tiny, the first fillable field with a tiny box is named. Fillable means the type is not checkbox, radio, or hidden. A select counts. A textarea counts. A tick box does not, and neither does a radio or a hidden input. A trap field is removed first. The words are leave this field blank, leave the field blank, leave field blank, leave blank, do not fill, honeypot, for bots only, and bot-field. One finding per screen. The button name is its text. A trailing colon or asterisk is dropped, and the first character is made a capital. Empty text becomes The button. The field name is the label, then the placeholder, then the name attribute, and underscores and hyphens become spaces. The same capital and the same trailing marks apply. An empty field name becomes A field. The walker picks one control, in order. A show-password control is skipped: password visibility, show password, hide password, reveal password, show value, or hide value. A provider button is skipped. A chrome control is skipped when the whole label is help, back, skip, close, menu, sign in, log in, login, pricing, blog, changelog, jobs, docs, demo, faq, faqs, bookmakers, or calculators. A link whose label ends with home is skipped. Decorative controls are skipped: read more, click to reveal, an @ handle, a line that starts with loved by and a number, a lone close mark, and a show line that is not show password or show value. Then a control that is not a link and whose type attribute is submit. An enabled one wins, and a disabled submit still wins over every later rule. A button with no type attribute is not that rule. Then a button whose label starts with continue, next, or get started, an enabled one first. Then an enabled control that is not a link, when the label is signup text of 48 characters or fewer. Then an enabled link with that signup text. Then the first enabled button, or the first enabled control whose type is button. Signup text is not log in, login, sign in, or signin, and it is not a provider button. It matches start free, start tracking, start and a digit with a space between them, 7-day trial, get started, sign up, try free, create account, create my account, create your account, create an account, start your trial, continue with email, your plan, choose a plan, select a plan, continue to payment, or a label that starts with continue or next. A link counts when it wins that pick. The words on a vague button are a different finding, on button text.
What size counts as tiny?
The recorded height or the recorded width. Either one. The number has to be greater than 0 and less than 16. 16 is not tiny. 0 is not tiny. A size that was not recorded is not tiny. The recorded number is the border box, rounded to a whole pixel. 15.4 rounds to 15 and is tiny. 15.5 rounds to 16 and is not. Padding and the border sit inside that box. Margin around the control does not. The label beside a field is not the box. The input, the select, or the textarea is. The element has to be visible before it is collected. Visibility hidden, display none, and opacity 0 are left out. A raw box of 1 pixel or less, on either side, is left out. A box off the left of the window, or above the page, is left out. A box below the fold is collected. A control inside an aria-hidden region is left out, unless that region covers at least three quarters of the window in both directions. A Create account button at 12 pixels tall and 88 pixels wide is this finding. The same button at 40 by 180 is not.
What about a link or a checkbox?
A checkbox is left out. A 12 pixel square on a terms box is not this finding. A radio is left out. A link is measured when the walker treats that link as the submit control. Terms, Forgot password, and Sign in are left out when a real button wins the pick. A show-password control is skipped in that pick, and it is not a field, so a tiny eye icon is left out. A provider button is left out the same way. Pad them anyway. Put the checkbox inside its label, and pad that label, so the whole line is the tap. Pad a text link, or make the way in a button. The walk will not name them.
Does the walk open a phone?
No. The window is 1100 by 760, with a device scale of 1. The box is in CSS pixels of that window. A button that is 40 pixels tall there is not this finding, even when a phone stylesheet shrinks it. Thumb reach is not measured. The Mobile thumb persona stays locked. This finding still runs on the free Impatient walk. Every screen the walk plans is checked, including a screen with no email field and no password field. A page that did not load, a bot check, and a URL that is not a signup never reach this check. A card screen and a human check still can, and those findings are recorded beside this one.
What does the finding say, and what does the mockup change?
For a button that says Create account and is 12 pixels tall, the title is Create account is a tiny tap target. The title does not put quotes around the name. The fix is Make “Create account” a larger tap target. The line is “Create account” is too small to tap. The rank is 45. The title and the fix clip the name at 32 characters. The line clips it at 40. A longer name keeps one character fewer, trimmed, and then an ellipsis. The joined words after the name are not clipped again. The line is given a full stop. The rank is the same number as the card finding. Specific findings sort by that number, highest first, and an earlier screen wins a tie. An extra field ranks at 80 when it is required and at 72 when it is not. A human check on the page ranks at 75. An email check before the product ranks at 65. A screen whose only way in is a provider button ranks at 60. No signup on the screen ranks at 55. A provider button above the email ranks at 52. Password rules that are missing rank at 50. A pre-ticked terms box ranks at 48. Placeholders as the only labels rank at 47. Password rules that live only in the placeholder rank at 46. A show-password miss ranks at 44, so this one sits above it. Work email only ranks at 42. A hint that only asks for a work email ranks at 34. Jargon ranks at 40. A vague heading ranks at 38. A step label whose total is from 4 to 12, such as Step 1/4, ranks at 38. Step 1/2 ranks at 34 when the screen has a headline or an email or password field. A required terms box ranks at 36. A button that only says Continue ranks at 35. Unmarked required fields rank at 41 and are a generic form finding, so they sit behind this one. Labels that are not tied to the fields rank at 28 and are the other generic finding. A missing price ranks at 32 and is a template finding, so it sits behind this one. No person and no company ranks at 24 and is a template finding too. The terms sentence under the button ranks at 8 and sits last. With one persona, the report lists up to five fixes by rank number, highest first. The walk keeps one of this finding. The first screen that raises it supplies the words, because the rank does not go up later. The mockup does not make the control larger. This finding is not one the after side redraws. When it is the one drawn, the after heading is the step's headline. With no headline, it uses the screen name, unless that name is the button or the document title, and then it is Create your account. A screen name that ends in …, with at least 8 characters before the ellipsis, and that starts the document title, counts as the title. The button stays as it was, or Create account when the step has none. The after side keeps up to three field labels. A label that says checkbox or radio is dropped. A label is also dropped when it matches company, organisation or organization, team size, company size, employees, role, job title, phone, use case, industry, workspace, headcount, website, username, user name, display name, confirm password, repeat password, re-enter password, reenter password, password again, or again password. If nothing is left, the after side shows Email and Password. The line under the mock is the fix. A finding whose screen, or what the step did, says hands off to is not the one drawn. There is no mockup when the page did not load, when a bot check stopped the walk, when the URL is not a signup, when a human check holds the button, or when the signup is clean. This finding is enough to keep the signup from being called clean.
Which fields to cut is on signup fields. Asking for the password twice is on confirm password. What the first screen should say is on signup page copy. A button that stays disabled is on signup button. Showing the rules before anyone types is on password rules. Asking for a work email is on work email. A provider button above the email is on social login. A password with no show control is on show password. A required terms tick box is on terms box. A card before the product is on credit card. Welcome back on a first visit is on welcome back. A button that only says Continue is on button text. A field that doesn't say it's required is on required fields. Running it yourself, and keeping the top five, is the new-user signup test. The short list is the onboarding checklist. The AI onboarding audit is the walk, and the signup prompt is the job it runs.
The walk is free. It starts on the home page.
Walk your signup