Company
Date Published
Author
Colin Sidoti
Word count
559
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

The "How We Roll" series by Clerk aims to guide product owners, developers, and security professionals on implementing authentication, with Chapter 2 focusing on avatars. Avatars, often overlooked in application design, enhance user experience and security by personalizing the sign-in process, as seen with Google's use of avatars. Clerk simplifies this by integrating social sign-ins that automatically use a user's avatar from services like Google or Facebook, which is preferred by over 50% of users and avoids the drop in conversion rates linked to forced avatar uploads. For users without an uploaded avatar, Clerk provides attractive default options using the Boring Avatars project. The <UserButton/> component allows avatars to be used as account management buttons, with a "shimmer" effect indicating interactivity. The <SignIn/> component displays avatars during sign-in to improve user experience and security by helping users recognize potential phishing attacks if an unexpected avatar appears. Overall, Clerk's approach to avatars adds polish to applications by providing easy-to-implement, visually appealing solutions that enhance both user experience and security.