I’ll bet you have user accounts at several online services and that you might add an occasional comment to a blog here or there. Each of these require a username and password to access the service/platform. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was one single sign-on account that would give you access to all your favorite sites?

You’re in luck! A new technology called OpenID does just that. OpenID is a free technology which provides users a way to maintain one ID to log in to a growing number of online sites and services.

This primer introduces you to the basics you’ll need to take advantage of OpenID’s benefits.

What is OpenID

OpenID offers you the ability to use one ID to access the web sites and services you regularly visit. It’s completely free and easy to use. There are two components to OpenID – providers and consumers. A provider provides the registration and authentication platform to manage your online identity and a consumer is any site or service that allows OpenID as a login option.

Before you can begin using OpenID, you need to set up an account with a provider. If you already use Blogger, WordPress.com, LiveJournal, Yahoo, Flickr or any number of other services, you may already have your own OpenID account. If not, or if you’d like to use a provider offering more flexibility, you can use any of these well-known providers:

• myOpenID
• VeriSign’s Personal Identity Provider (PIP)
• ClaimID

For the purpose of this demonstration, I will use myOpenID in my examples.

Creating an OpenID Account

To set up your own OpenID identity, you must first register with an OpenID provider such as myOpenID. The setup process is simple and straight-forward.

Choose a username for yourself. The setup process will let you know if your choice is already taken. Your username will become part of a URL (web address) that is your actual OpenID user identity. In this example, the OpenID identity is http://littlecreek.myopenid.com/.

Choose a password for yourself. The Strength gauge moves as you type to show how easy it would be to crack. Strong passwords are more than 8 characters long and include combinations of lower- and upper-case letters, numbers and special characters. Dinner@7 would be a strong password.

Enter your email address – used for retrieving lost passwords – and make sure your email allows mail from your provider’s domain.

Read and accept the terms and conditions, then click the Submit button to complete your registration.

Registration Personas

A "full-time" OpenID provider offers features you won’t find from other web services.

OpenID offers the ability to create different personas to be used at different sites. These personas determine what personal information is passed to these sites. For example, if you’re using your OpenID to comment at an unfamiliar blog you may want to use your nickname (Moultrie Creek in my case) instead of your real name and your generic email address rather than your personal one.

With OpenID you can set up as many personnas as you wish and assign specific personas to specific sites as you set up your login for OpenID or register with the site for the first time.

Sign In With OpenID

When a site offers an OpenID sign-in option, select it. Then enter the complete URL for your OpenID account and click on the Sign In button.

If you have never used OpenID with this site before – or if you’re signing in for the first time – you’ll be taken to your OpenID provider (myOpenID in this example) where you will need to login. You’ll then be taken to a screen similar to the one shown here where you authorize your provider to allow the login at the original site. Here, I’m being told that I’m signing in to ma.gnolia.com and asked to continue the setup process for this site. You will also receive some kind of prompt (shown here under Options) to allow login each time you visit the ma.gnolia site.

Click the Continue button to return to the original site.

Because this is the first time I’ve used OpenID to log into this site, I need to associate my OpenID identity with my existing site account information. In this example, all I need to do is enter my screen name and (site) password, then click on Sign In. Now, ma.gnolia knows me by my OpenID identity.

The next time I visit the site, I just enter my OpenID URL to sign in.

Setting Up Blogger for OpenID Comments

If you use Blogger as your blogging platform, you can easily make your blog OpenID friendly. In the Comments tab for your blog’s settings – under Who Can Comment? – choose the Registered Users – includes OpenID option. That’s it!

Using OpenID to Comment on Blogger

If a blog is set for OpenID comments, you’ll see the OpenID option. In this example, the drop-down menu lets you choose your OpenID (independent) provider, LiveJournal, WordPress.com, TypePad or AIM account as your OpenID provider, then enter your OpenID URL below. If you’ve already set up this blog as a trusted site, just hit Publish Your Comment and you’re done.

Tip

Since I use the Firefox browser, I can have multiple tabs set as my "Home" to open when I start the browser. I’ve included myOpenID as one of my Home tabs and have it set to automatically sign me in on my home computer. That way, when I visit a trusted site, I’m already logged into myOpenID and it negotiates access without me lifting a finger.

Resources

Interest in OpenID continues to grow and more sites offer it as a login option every day. Below are some resources to help you get started with OpenID and enjoy the pleasures of using a single sign-on identity to many of your favorite web locations.

OpenID Providers

• myOpenID – http://www.myopenid.com
• VeriSign’s Personal Identity Provider – http://pip.verisignlabs.com
• ClaimID – http://www.claimid.com
• myID.net – http://www.myid.net
• myVidoop – http://www.myvidoop.com

Where you can use your OpenID:

• Comment on blogs (Blogger, WordPress.com, Typepad, LiveJournal)
• Bloglines news reader – http://www.bloglines.com
• Diigo bookmarking system – http://www.diigo.com
• Technorati – http://www.technorati.com

Check OpenID Directory – http://openiddirectory.com – for more locations accepting OpenID as a login option.