The heading
Vague headline.
Say what this is.
You land on Sign up. The form is under it. Nothing on the screen says what the product does.
The short answer
Say what the product is in the heading, or in a line under it. Stumblet flags a heading of at most 60 characters that is only Welcome, Sign up, Create your account, Register, Get started, Enter your email, or Your record starts here, when nothing near it says more. Welcome back is a different finding.
Walk your signup
Why the heading has to say it
You arrived from a link. The page says Sign up, and the fields are Email and Password. You still do not know what you are making an account for. A line under that heading can say it. Product tour, as a second heading, says enough for this check. Ship weekly letters does too, when it is a heading. The same three words under the heading do not.
Put the product in the heading, or in the line under it. Welcome back on a first visit is a different finding, on welcome back. The rest of the first screen is on signup page copy.
What Stumblet flags
1“Sign up” doesn't say what this is
The heading is Sign up, and nothing near it says what the product does. The title is “Sign up” doesn't say what this is. The title puts curly quotes around the heading. The fix is Say what the product is in the heading, or in a line under “Sign up”. The line is “Sign up” doesn't say what this product is. The rank is 38.
The same finding covers Welcome, Welcome to the product, Signup, Sign-up, Sign up for a short name, Create your account, Create your free account, Register, Get started, Enter your email, Enter your details, and Your record starts here. Sign up now is not this finding. Get started today is not this finding. Enter your name is not this finding. A heading longer than 60 characters is not this finding.
The title and the fix clip the heading at 42 characters. A longer name keeps 41 characters, trimmed, and then an ellipsis. The line clips at 60, so a heading that passed the length check is not cut again there. The questions below have the word lists. The report keeps five fixes.
2A line that says what this is
A visible h1 or h2 of at least 12 characters clears the finding when it is not one of those generic lines, and it does not start with Welcome back, Sign in, or Log in. Product tour clears it. Hello there does not. The walker stores six of those headings. This is not the same test as the line under the heading.
The line under the heading clears it when one sentence says what the product does. Six or more words is enough. Four or five words need a plain verb the walker already looks for, including help, let, collect, manage, share, track, send, and build. It helps you ship clears it. A short note here now does not. Sign up for your notes does not. Sign up to start sending a weekly letter to your readers does.
A sign-in prompt, a terms line, and a trial or card line do not clear it. Already have an account, privacy policy, and card required stay vague. A heading that starts with Welcome back is not this finding. That check is on welcome back. The questions below have the length, the verbs, and how the line is collected.
3The heading stays on the mock
The mockup does not rewrite the heading, and it does not add a line that says what the product is. This finding is not one the after side redraws. When it is the one drawn, the before line is Step, then that step's index plus one, then the quote. The line under the mock is the fix.
The after heading is the step's headline. Mixed case stays as written. A shouted heading is sentence-cased on the after side. The title keeps that heading as written. With no headline, the after heading uses the screen name, unless that name is the button or the document title, and then it is Create your account. The button stays as it was, or Create account when the step has none.
The rank is 38. Unmarked required fields rank at 41 and are a generic form finding, so this one comes first in the walk's order. The report lists 41 above 38. That check is on required fields. A button that only says Continue ranks at 35. That check is on button text. Jargon ranks at 40, so that one is drawn instead. The questions below have the rest of the order, and when there is no mockup.
Questions
Which heading is read?
The headline, after spaces are collapsed. Empty is not this finding. Longer than 60 characters is not this finding. A headline that starts with Welcome back, Sign in, Sign-in, Signin, Log in, Log-in, or Login is not this finding. That one is Welcome back, and only on the first screen of the walk. With a form on the page, the headline is chosen before this check. The form is a form element, or a field the walker marked. The candidates are visible h1, h2, h3, and role=heading elements in the form's column, with no field or button inside them. The column overlap has to be at least 35 percent of the narrower box. A heading whose top is more than 8 pixels below the form's top is left out. The text is 3 to 80 characters after a trailing colon or asterisk is removed, and then it is cut at 80. The nearest one above the form wins. When that nearest heading is only Sign up, Signup, or Sign-up, or Create followed by an optional a, an, or your, then an optional free, then account, or Register, or Get started, with one trailing mark allowed, and another candidate is at least 12 characters and is not one of those, the walker uses that other heading. A heading the page draws in capitals keeps mixed-case source text. With a form and no such heading, the headline is empty, and this finding is not raised. With no form, the headline is the first visible h1 or h2. This check still requires 60 characters or fewer, so a stored heading of 61 to 80 characters is not this finding. Visible means it is on screen: not visibility hidden, not display none, and not opacity 0. The box has to be wider than 1 pixel and taller than 1 pixel. A box off the left, off the right, or above the page is left out. A heading below the fold still counts. A heading inside an aria-hidden region is left out, unless that region covers at least three quarters of the window in both directions. The other headings that can clear the finding are the visible h1 and h2 elements, six at most. A seventh is not stored, so it cannot clear the finding. An h3 clears it only when the form picker made that h3 the headline and the headline is not one of the generic lines below. The check runs on every screen the walk plans. It is not only the first screen. One finding is kept for the walk. The rank does not rise on a later screen, so the first screen's words stay. A page that did not load, a bot check, and a URL that is not a signup return before this check. A human check on the page, and a card screen, still reach it. An email field is not required. A password field is not required.
What counts as saying what the product is?
Two different checks. A visible h1 or h2 clears the finding when the collapsed line is at least 12 characters, it is not one of the generic lines below, and it does not start with Welcome back, Sign in, or Log in. Product tour is 12 characters and two words, and it clears the finding. Ship weekly letters is 19 characters and three words, and it clears the finding as a heading. Hello there is 11 characters, so it does not. The line under the heading is a separate check, and it can clear the finding when no heading did. The walk stores that line from under the first visible h1 or h2. It looks at the next four siblings and their children, then walks up to five parents, and it also reads a slot named description. It skips a button, a link, an input, a select, a textarea, a form, a label, script, style, and nav, and a block that contains a field or a button. It skips text longer than 280 characters, and text that repeats the heading. It skips already have an account, sign in, log in, login, privacy policy, terms of service, and by signing, by creating, by continuing, or by registering. It skips a generic heading, including Continue with and up to three words. It keeps a line of six or more words, or four or more words when the line has a plain verb, and then cuts it at 280. The decision then splits that stored line into sentences on a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark followed by a space. One sentence is enough. After trailing marks are removed, that sentence has to be 12 to 280 characters. Six or more words clears it. Four or five words clear it only with a verb: help, helps, let, lets, or a word starting with collect, manag, shar, track, send, build, automat, testimonial, or newsletter, or organise, organize, analyse, analyze, or the words inbox or analytics. It helps you ship is four words and clears it. A short note here now is five words with none of those verbs, so it does not. Ship weekly letters does not clear it as this line, even though the same words clear it as a heading. A generic line does not clear it. Sign up for your notes does not. Sign up to start sending a weekly letter to your readers does, because it is longer than the generic Sign up line and it has six or more words. A sentence that contains already have an account, sign in, log in, or login does not. A sentence that contains by signing, by creating, by registering, by continuing, privacy policy, or terms of service does not. A sentence that contains a day trial, free trial, card required, credit card, cancel before, pay nothing, or choose a plan does not, even when it has six or more words. The walk can store that trial or card line. It still does not clear the finding. A clearer record of your work is six words and clears it.
Which headings match?
The whole headline, after spaces are collapsed, with capitals ignored. One trailing full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark is allowed, and it is removed from the quoted name. Welcome matches. Welcome to the product matches, because Welcome to is followed by more words. Welcome to, with nothing after it, does not match. Welcome back does not match. Sign up, Signup, and Sign-up match. Sign up for, or Sign up to, matches when one, two, or three words follow. A word there is letters, digits, underscores, apostrophes, hyphens, or dots. Sign up for your notes matches. Sign up for one two three matches. A fourth word does not: Sign up for one two three four is not this finding. Sign up now is not this finding. Sign up to start sending a weekly letter to your readers is not this finding. Create account matches, and so do Create an account, Create your account, Create free account, and Create your free account. Up to five words may sit before account. Create your free team workspace starter account matches, and it is 47 characters, so it is still this finding. Six words before account do not match. Register matches. Get started matches. Get started today does not. Enter your email, Enter your e-mail, and Enter your details match. Enter your name does not. Your record starts here matches. The words between Your and starts here are at most 40 letters, digits, underscores, or spaces. A heading that does not match is not this finding, even when it is short. Get website analytics running in minutes does not match. The form picker only swaps out the short steps, so Sign up for your notes can stay the headline, and this check still flags it.
What about Welcome back, or a line about the trial?
Welcome back, Sign in, and Log in are not this finding. On the first screen they are the Welcome back finding. A later screen is not checked for that one. This finding is checked on every screen. A Sign up headline with a Welcome back heading further down is still this finding, because a returning heading does not count as saying what the product is. A signup heading wins the Welcome back check, so Create your account with a Sign in link further down is not Welcome back, and it can still be this finding. A line under the heading that is only about the trial or the card does not clear this finding. 7-day trial of the pro plan starts today does not. Card required before you can see the product today does not. The phrases are a day trial, free trial, card required, credit card, cancel before, pay nothing, and choose a plan. The rank of this finding is 38. A step counter whose total is from 4 to 12, such as Step 3 of 5, shares that rank. This finding is recorded first on the screen, so it stays ahead of that counter in the walk's order. The rest of the counter is on the signup fields guide. The rest of the first screen, including the button and Welcome back, is on the signup page copy guide.
What does the finding say, and what does the mockup change?
For a heading that says Sign up, the title is “Sign up” doesn't say what this is. The title puts curly quotes around the heading. The fix is Say what the product is in the heading, or in a line under “Sign up”. The line is “Sign up” doesn't say what this product is. The rank is 38. The title and the fix clip the heading at 42 characters. A longer name keeps 41 characters, trimmed, and then an ellipsis. The line clips at 60. A heading that already passed the 60 character check is not cut again on the line. The line is given a full stop. The heading is quoted as written. A shouted heading stays shouted in the title, the fix, and the line. Specific findings sort by that number, highest first, and an earlier screen wins a tie. That order picks the stuck point and the finding that is drawn. When the rank and the screen are the same, the one already recorded stays ahead. With one persona, the report lists up to five fixes by the number, highest first, then the earlier screen, then the title. A page that did not load, a bot check, and a URL that is not a signup rank at 90. 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. Welcome back on a first visit ranks at 74. A quoted field error ranks at 68. A button that stayed disabled ranks at 66. An email check before the product ranks at 65. A handoff to another account ranks at 64. 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 box that starts ticked ranks at 48. Placeholders as the only labels rank at 47. Password rules that live only in the placeholder rank at 46, and so do two or more screens before the form. A button or a field under 16 pixels ranks at 45, and so does a card. A show-password miss ranks at 44. Work email only ranks at 42. Unmarked required fields rank at 41 and are a generic form finding, so this one comes first in the walk's order, and it is the one drawn when those two are the top of that order. The report lists 41 above 38. A human check holding the button ranks at 40, and so does jargon, so either of those is drawn instead. A step label whose total is from 4 to 12 ranks at 38. A required terms box ranks at 36. A button that only says Continue ranks at 35. A hint that only asks for a work email ranks at 34, and so does Step 1/2 when the screen has a headline or an email or password field. A missing price ranks at 32 and is a template finding, so it sits behind this one. Labels that are not tied to the fields rank at 28 and are the other generic finding. 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. The walk keeps one of this finding. When a model rewrites the walk, it can replace the line and the fix. It leaves the title and the rank. The mockup does not rewrite the heading, and it does not add a line that says what the product is. This finding is not one the after side redraws. When it is the one drawn, the before line is Step, then that step's index plus one, then the quote. The after heading is the step's headline. Mixed case stays as written. A shouted heading is sentence-cased on the after side, and a short brand in capitals stays in capitals. 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. A walk whose only other note is the terms sentence keeps both. If this finding is absent and that sentence is the only note, the walk is called clean and the sentence is dropped.
The rest of the first screen is on signup page copy. Welcome back on a first visit is on welcome back. Which fields to cut, including the step counter, is on signup fields. Asking for the password twice is on confirm password. 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. A button that only says Continue is on button text. A field that doesn't say it's required is on required fields. A button or a field under 16 pixels is on tap targets. Two or more screens before the email field are on extra steps. 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