Question: I was intrigued by this statement by [@DanWilson](http://twitter.com/DanWIlson) on Twitter:

> 
> All Web Developers: Never Ever Ever
>  put anything after the password box
>  and before submit button on a form.
>  Tab MUST go directly to submit.
> 
> 
> 

When I asked for clarification, he added:

> 
> because the UI pattern is Username TAB Password TAB Enter Key.
> 
> 
> 

Can anyone point me to evidence that corroborates or contradicts that claim, even if it's anecdotal?

Answer: 
Just think about your own experiences - when you log in to a site, what do you expect to do? Me, I expect to do exactly what Dan said - Username TAB Password TAB enter. I've even seen placed that have "Remember me" functionality maintain this basic concept - On chase.com, to tab to the "remember my username" checkbox, you actually have to tab PAST the submit button to focus on the checkbox. I don't know that I really like that, but it does make the general login much quicker.

One addition I would have to his statement is that on a login page, the initial focus MUST be on the username field. I can't count the number of websites that I go to where focus is improperly set (or not set at all) when a page is first loaded.
I agree with John. I think that most people press Enter while in the password field (I do), or will click/tap on the Enter button.

However, for the few Windows users that press Tab and then Enter, Dan is right: there shouldn't be anything between the password's edit field and the Enter button.

I singled out Windows users because on the Mac, the default is that pressing Tab takes you to the next edit field or listbox. It will never take you to a button. My apologies to Linux users; I'm not sure about the details there.