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I typed the following sentence in an E-Mail in Thunderbird:
Muss man sich erstmal einloggen?
The German spellchecker said "erstmal" is not a word and suggested that it be replaced with "erstmals".
But Muss man sich erstmals einloggen? doesn't sound right to me.
Which is correct in this sentence, erstmal or erstmals?
In your case erstmals is not the right word, because it means "the first time" as in
Die Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft fand erstmals 1930 in Uruguay statt.
If you want to use "erstmal", I would suggest writing it in the "two-words" form:
Muss man sich erst mal einloggen?
which is a colloquial expression. A more formal version could be
Muss man sich zuerst (einmal) einloggen?
According to Duden "erstmal" or "erst mal" (both is allowed) are colloquial abbreviations of "erst einmal" in the meaning of "zunächst".
Muss man sich zunächst einloggen?
Both "erstmals", and "erstmalig" are appropriate adverbs to denote something happening for the first time. This is likely to be a different meaning than in your example - unless it was some e.g. activation procedure that had to be done only once. If used, then "erstmalig" sounds better in the sense of a high standard, may be because it is also a bit old-fashioned.
