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Username vs Full Name | Forum

Topic location: Forum home » Support » General Questions
Ryan P
Ryan P Jun 17 '16
Hi,

I have seen other posts about the Username showing vs Full name in sign up, but have yet to find an answer.

If all fields in sign up are left untouched, Username field is shown in profile as "Username" and used as sign in credentials. But the "Full name" is visible as the user. I am looking to omit Full name" all together, and just want one universal "username". This would be visible for the user posts, profile, etc, as well as sign in credentials, etc.
However, when I make full name "invisible" in profile questions, or rename it, let's say "location" or "nickname", this is now used as the name seen on posts, in the verification email ("dear "location" or "nickname"),etc.

On the other hand, if I rename "Full name" to "Username" and rename Username to something else, then the intended username is now visible but login credentials require to sign in with that "something else" that i replaced with the original "username" field.. Does this make any sense?? Please help lol

Ryan P
Ryan P Jun 17 '16
For instance, in sign up you have username and full name. well, username will log the user in, but "full name" shows as their screen name.

So if i rename "Full name" to "username" and username to "nickname", now the correct handle shows in posts. But to login, you must input what u input into "nickname".

Darryl B Leader
Darryl B Jun 17 '16
Not sure I totally follow you, but username is a unique field that identifies the user. You will notice in the profile questions that the check box is grayed out since it is a required field. The "Real Name field can be completely removed from all of the areas by clicking on "edit" in profile questions, and unchecking all of the boxes. This will just leave the username on sign up, profile, etc. Then under settings / user settings select to display the username. When you mention one universal username I am thinking you want one username for all of your users. That wouldn't be possible since the system uses it to identify each user.
Ryan P
Ryan P Jun 17 '16
Thanks for the response,Darryl. The issue is, when I remove "Real Name", the user's handle is blank. for instance, "no name" joined your site. in the verification email, it says "Dear, thanks for joining". In their profile, it shows their username.
Darryl B Leader
Darryl B Jun 17 '16
Just did a search in the languages using "dear" as a search. There were different uses. A couple of them used {$realName} the rest either used {$username}, or {$user_name} in the messages. I'm not sure if there is some difference in the last two. One used {$userName}. These are various messages that the system will send.
Ryan P
Ryan P Jun 17 '16
ok, I see what you are saying. I guess what I'm getting at is, when I completely remove "full name", the visible handle name, email greeting "dear...", etc goes blank. The username is only shown in profile and used to login. I am looking to have username as the login, the name for the user's handle that is visible in posts, as well as the profile.
Darryl B Leader
Darryl B Jun 17 '16
In the admin panel / settings/ user settings. Do you have the "Show profile name" set to "Username"? This is how mine is set, and it displays across the site.
If I wanted real name to display across the site, I would select that in the settings above, but they would still login with their user name. Theoretically you should be able to change the label of "real name" in the profile questions to "nickname", and select that as the display name that will show across the site. I may have to check on that one though.
Darryl B Leader
Darryl B Jun 17 '16
Yep. I edited the Real Name profile question to say Nickname, and it was in the drop down in admin / settings / user settings "Show profile name as" drop down selection. If I chose that, the users nickname would display site wide, but they would still use their username, or email to sign in.
Ryan P
Ryan P Jun 17 '16
ahhhhh...that's where i went wrong. Thanks Darryl, I owe ya one. *Solved*
Appreciate the help!
Darryl B Leader
Darryl B Jun 17 '16
I'm glad I could help.
dave Leader
dave Jun 18 '16
Nice job Darryl +1  :)     


Also remember Ryan that for privacy issues some members may not want to use their login name for display.  Its not a perfect system as it still shows in the url lol...  However some users may prefer to use the realname (or as i call it nick name) for site posts. 


I think the core should be changed to say nickname instead of real name is it confuses people i think.