alt Hacker News> I always hated how the "Login" button is smaller on every website than the "Sign Up" button.
I always assumed that was because it's the least common flow. Once you've signed up, you're logged in, so the only time you should ever need the "login" button is on a new computer, or after logging out to switch accounts, or if the service offers a "remember me" checkbox (don't do that) and doesn't check it by default (definitely don't do that), or if the user genuinely wants to not be remembered (e.g. they used private browsing).
If you're having to use "login" on any regular basis, something in the overall flow needs improving.
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Every website I've signup for I've also logged into at least once. Usually more than once. Frequency isn't the reason, it's optimizing for sign-ups. Once you get someone to sign-up, they're going to login even if the button is a little smaller.
You sign up once and login an arbitrary number of times. Not sure how signing up is ever the more frequent path. I've signed up for things I use maybe at most twice throughout a lifetime. Logins I couldn't even begin to count.
Your tokens should defiently have expiry times on the range that you would need to login again.
> the only time you should ever need the "login" button is on a new computer, or after logging out to switch accounts
That’s still more frequent per customer than signing up.
It only makes sense when prioritizing growth over your long-term customers.