Sometimes it’s difficult to sell OpenID to new users. When people ask about it, I usually praise one aspect of the protocol: the ease of login to websites with an identifier people know and use regularly, e.g. their blog URL. This is an obvious benefit which people are able to understand. Also it’s a fast way to log in to websites. At least, that’s what I thought so far. Though I’m not sure anymore.
When German service Yiid implemented JanRain‘s RPX a couple of weeks ago, I fiddled about with it a little while, especially with the various ways of login to Yiid. For those who don’t know, RPX manages logins and authentication for Relying Parties. Users can easily click on the button of a familiar identity provider (Google, Yahoo!, Twitter, Facebook,…) to log in to websites. OpenID is another available option.
So apart from the usual username and password Yiid offers a couple more options to log in now. The login screen looks like this:
On the left side you see the RPX logins, on the right side the username/password login box. As you can also see, the latter login box is pre-filled with my username and password already. I saved these details in Safari before. Also I associated the various available options of RPX with Yiid before and logged in to those services.
Now what’s the fastest way to log in to Yiid?
- Username and password: 1 click
- Google: 1 click
- Twitter: 1 click
- Live ID: 1 click
- Facebook: 1 click
- MySpace: 2 clicks
For MySpace there is another click required (see below). I don’t know why, though.
So what’s up with my OpenID, my blog URL? Well, I have to click the OpenID button, then I have to type in the URL of my blog and click the Anmelden (=Sign in) button.
Oops, that definitely takes some time. It’s the slowest one of all options available.
Of course, things looked a little bit different if I were not logged in to the various identity services before. Then I had to log in to them during authentication. But the same applied to OpenID.
The fastest way to log in is username and password if the credentials are saved either in the browser or in a password manager like 1Password. Oddly, the username/password side of Yiid also loads way faster than the RPX one. I would have clicked login with username and password long before RPX is even loaded.
If people don’t use those features or apps described above login takes longer, of course. But OpenID was still the slowest option (typing in the URL, clicking sign in button, logging in to OpenID Provider, clicking button).
So my “selling” point of fast logins with my own URL is none anymore. There are still other benefits of OpenID, of course, like signing up to new services, being in control of the URL and many more which have to be considered when choosing the right option for oneself.
Also I have to mention that OpenID is also the technology used for the Google and MySpace logins. But still.
Is there a way that the OpenID login boxes can be pre-filled with the correct URL? Can it be saved by browsers or password managers? Would be great!
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Hi Carsten, another problem is the url. Ask 10 people in a supermarket what a url is… no one knows what it is. And no one knows how to get a url to work with openID. You and I know do, but that is not good enough. Really openID should create an ID repository without a url which you can claim and just use. I have stopped using it
I use Facebook for nearly everything because it is easy peasy (And I can hide behind the fact that facebook is an openID supporter/provider). I know the openID guys are trying to move openID up to a next level, but I think it has fallen so behind, facebook has really moved ahead. The possibility of getting a broad support base has been lost imo 
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Don, admittedly not many people know what a URL is. But studies have shown that e.g. MySpace users identify themselves with their profile URL.
Anyway, I hope that someday it won’t matter what people type into a login screen: email, profile names, URLs,…
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Sxipper and Weave for Firefox remember OpenIDs and prefill forms.
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You’re right about Sxipper (never checked Weave). Almost forgot about it since I’m running Safari most of the time. Sxipper is a decent way to fill forms, even OpenID login boxes. Would be great though, if it was available for other browsers as well. Or even better, if it (or a similar technology) was built directly into browsers.
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your right, the login with openid is much slowlier than username and password and the slowliest of all options.
but i like rpx very much, because the registration-process is soooooooooo easy and cool, also for non-advanced-users AND especially rpx-now kills the ‘url-remember-problem’, because everybody knows facebook or twitter.
Ok, thats not an openid-login, but the normal user doesnt care about naming, she don’t know what an openid is and she must not. For me rpx makes a big step in future, because you can signup and signin with known ACCOUNTS and nobody askes: openWHAT?. The second great thing: u don’t need a password for registration.
I think u and me are one of less people who use the openid-button in rpx and so its ok, that it is slowly. Sorry for so much celebrating rpx, i know u talked about urls, performance and openid, but i’m so inspired about this service -
Let me get this straight, I like RPX as well. And I certainly don’t want to criticize it. It’s a great product which – as you already mentioned – helps non-savvy people using accounts they already have.
I’m also aware that RPX is loading from the JanRain servers and not from Yiid’s servers. So this probably explains why it is loading slower than the rest of the website.
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sure…was only a celebrating to rpx from me and not critizing your post. i agree with you 100%
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Slightly related, and unrelated… The main OpenID problem was and still is: too many providers, too few consumers.
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I think it’s just a temporary problem. The number of providers will decrease because there aren’t many business opportunities for smaller providers, I think. Of course, the number of consumers has to rise as well. But with currently more than 50,000 sites things don’t look so bad.
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Im probably late on this, but better late then never,
anyway, it greatly depends on the service, and the implementation,
Yahoo users can just type yahoo.com on the consumers that support openid 2.0 (another problem is the versioning system, with some providers only supporting one version over another, and some identities not even working on some, it becomes a prerequisite to have multiples in those cases, though people usually have multiple IM's like yahoo and aol, and that can alievate the problem, and typekey, even though its a good service, sometimes doesn't load up.
overall I think more need to work on supporting directed identity, and work on showing it as a service based system, not an individual one.
its easier to click a yahoo or aol button and enter a screen name, then it is to complicate things with a website address, even if it isn't particulerly hard. -
Directed Identity makes typing in the OpenID URL rather easy, of course. By the way, Yahoo! is also an option at RPX. Yiid just chose to present other providers on its login screen.
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I´ve noticed improvements to the RPX UI recently that make the login smoother. This idea: emailtoid.net addresses some of the issues surrounding incorrect input by users of URL v email.
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looks like emailtoid.net is or better said was part of the now defunct Vidoop !
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Yes, emailtoid.net is part of Vidoop.
Indeed, RPX has made it easier for users to log in. It remembers the OpenID Provider users usually use and only presents this provider when users return.
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