tabular logins and pet peeves

I wanted to mention a pet peeve of mine that I've been stumbling with recently, and also make a suggestion to webmasters to check for this little inefficiency. When you have a login script, and the interface involves a username and password (as 99.9% of websites with login capabilities employ), do your login fields work with a single tabbed cursor? In other words, if I click on the username field, enter my username, and click on my tab key will the cursor jump directly to the password field or does it move somewhere else (like to a "forgot username" link)?

This convenient way of logging into websites has become enough of a staple that it is worth making sure your site supports it. It sounds ridiculous, but it is frustrating when it doesn't work this way. Sure, it only takes another second or so to click on the second field with my mouse, but if I can tab to the next field it is easier, and users like "easy". Especially when you're asking *them* to login to *your* site.

Another similar problem to watch out for is when sites load some sort of script that interrupts the login process. My best example of this is at the Godaddy website, where their little Firefox plugin that loads in the upper right-hand corner interrupts my login nearly every time. What a pain in the pass, especially when I have already loaded that plugin! So every time I go to login I have to endure their little site quirk and try to login again. Is it frustrating enough to convince me to shy away from Godaddy's domain service, with their bargain prices and easy account maintenance? Not quite, but it doesn't leave the best taste in my mouth and the day that another registrar with similar service and pricing appears I can't guarantee that my loyalty will be as high as if I had not experienced this little annoyance. It's hard to say what repeated annoyances do to your subconscious and the resulting decisions that are made. Sometimes we can explain them, sometimes we can't. I this case, I have documented my experience here, so if I leave them in the future, you'll know why.