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Comment by nfnaaron | Hacker News Reader

"But with the UX failures of OpenID ..."

I see this often, and I don't get it. I go to a site that accepts OpenID and click the button. If I'm already signed in to OpenID, I'm in. If not, my OpenID provider's page pops up, I sign in, and I'm in.

Are other OpenID experiences not that simple, or am I so out of touch that I don't recognize that "OpenID is hard!"?

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Given that the average Internet user is much closer to "Googles [facebook login] to get into Facebook and assumes the first result is right" than they are to "Implemented OpenID for their day job", and that I'm in the second group and still can't reliably speak about the subject without having a glossary in front of me, I'm thinking if you even have to say "OpenID provider" you've already lost.

"... I'm thinking if you even have to say "OpenID provider" you've already lost."

Yeah, I've tried to explain the OpenID idea (just the idea) to people, and I just get crickets.

The vast majority of OpenID sites require people to type in or copy/paste a URL. And most people haven't set up or don't know that Yahoo and Google and whoever else can provide OpenIDs.

Seriously, Facebook Connect and Sign In With Twitter (not as seamless, but decent) are much, much better flows than any OpenID implementation I've ever seen.

How is this http://epochwolf.com/singleforest-registration-with-openid for openid? (The website isn't active yet so I have to link you to my blog.)

I like that GUI, but it is unclear what your username is for if the password is not given to you. I think you mean that the password is given by the login provider, but then does that mean the user has two loginid's with you? [One for you and one for the provider] I am not the user who thinks you should google for your facebook account, but unfortunately I guess I am a bit confused! I wish I weren't because I really like the OpenID idea and haven't had troubles with the GUI myself... except it does take more screens it seems.

I see the problem. Your username is a way for people to identify you on the site. Usernames are unique. For example my profile would be on http://singleforest.com/users/epochwolf and all comments I make would have my username (epochwolf) on them.

I can definitely make this more clear on the registration pages.

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