Use Your URL As A Universal Login ID With OpenID

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Yan

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Have you ever came across a site with this little icon openID icon on the login form and you are wondering what it is? It is understandable if you are unsure. It will only make sense when there will be more and more sites adopting the use of OpenID as a way for users to sign in.

OpenID is - and should be - your universal login ID which you can use to authenticate yourself when you need to login to any website. In a more conventional way, the process of signing in requires you to provide your username and password for verification. With OpenID, it eliminates the process altogether thus simplifying the process. Think of it as your portable identity you can carry and use across different websites. From a user’s perspective, it is easier and more convenience. Don’t you think so?

How do you get your OpenID?

openIDFirst thing first, do you know that if you are using both free blogging platform such Blogger and WordPress.com, your URL can be used as your OpenID? As such, you need not register anymore. Otherwise you need to register for once at MyOpenID. The setup takes less than a minute.

Upon successful registration, you should be getting your OpenID that looks something like this username.myopenid.com

Now with that OpenID, you only need to enter your given ID and will be asked whether to ‘Allow Once’ or ‘Allow Forever’ or ‘Deny’ for verification. No more username and password. If you choose ‘Allow Forever’, it will remember your ID in the future and will automatically confirm your ID on your next visit. Or ‘Allow Once’ for one time authentication.

Note: A site using OpenID doesn’t need your password, and if they ask for it, they’re trying to scam you.

Now how do you use your URL as your OpenID?

To be honest, this is what I like most about it. I am able to use my URL - thoushallblog.com as my OpenID instead, without the need to remember my given OpenID. Cool, isn’t it?

So how do you setup your URL to use as your OpenID?
You need to link your URL to myOpenID server and delegate your OpenID. The simplest way to do it to copy the following markup into your <head></head> section on your header.php and substitute the username with your own.

<head>
.
.
<link rel="openid.server" href="http://www.myopenid.com/server" />
<link rel="openid.delegate" href="http://username.myopenid.com/” />
<meta http-equiv="X-XRDS-Location" content="http://www.myopenid.com/xrds?username=username.myopenid.com" />
.
.
</head>

Thanks to Travis Vocino for the wonderful tips.

You are good to go. No more username. No more password. All with the convenience of using one single login ID - that is your domain URL. Who needs a username and password anymore?

Here’s a list of sites that support the use of OpenID. Have you got yourself one today?

Point to Ponder: Should I use OpenID on my comment section? What do you think?

Worth Reading

1 Comment

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    1. bloggingzoom.com

      Use Your URL As A Universal Login ID With OpenID…

      OpenID is - and should be - your universal login ID which you can use to authenticate yourself when you need to login to any website. In a more conventional way, the process of signing in requires you to provide your username and password for verificat…

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