FOSSwire3 +OpenID

Chris Van Patten

Me…• Designer

• Entrepreneur

• Freshman at UB

• Department of Theatre & Dance

• Intended B.F.A., Theatre Design

•

• Website design

• Print design

• Branding

• Product development

My work…

My work…

FOSSwire• Established Oct. 2006

FOSSwire• Focus:

• Free/Open Source software tips, tricks, tutorials

FOSSwire• Subscribers: ~5000

FOSSwire• Featured on Lifehacker, Mozilla Blog, Alltop (and more)

FOSSwire• Problems

• Feeds: hard to monetize• Community: strong, but great room for growth

• Goals• Strengthen website, more views• Build in more discussion options

FOSSwire

Solution…

FOSSwire• Community

• FOSSwire Talk community• User-submitted articles

• Voted on by others, can be promoted to main feed

• Monetization• Website-only features drive visitors• Smarter ad placement, sponsorships

Let’s take a look…

Welcome back!

OpenID• Problems

• Accounts are a pain to develop• Another username, another password

• Why OpenID?• Easy-to-integrate library• One ID, many websites• Support for outside ID providers

OpenID• What

• OpenID is a decentralized, open standard for user authentication.

• Huh?• Let’s look at some pictures.

WARNINGThe following diagrams are not entirely

technically complete, and are intended to be

rough outlines on how OpenID communication

happens. Those programmers who are more

familiar with OpenID may want to turn away!

Traditional Login

John Q. Public’s PCJohn Q. Public’s PC

WebsiteWebsite

1. Enter your username and password

2. Are John Q. Public’s username and password correct?

3. If so, your computer displays the logged in page.

OpenID

John Q. Public’s PCJohn Q. Public’s PC

WebsiteWebsite

1. Enter your OpenID provider

2. The website server opens a connection to the OpenID provider’s server.

3. You’re redirected to the OpenID provider.

4. Enter your username/pass there.

5. If right, the OpenID provider reports back that you logged in, and closes the connection.

6. You’re redirected back to the website and shown the logged-in version.

OpenID ProviderOpenID Provider

OpenID• Wait…

• That seems more complicated! Why would I use that?

• It’s really not!• OpenID just ‘moves the login box’• Let’s see…

Example time!

Easy, right?

OpenID• Login - Easy to implement

• Built in to Movable Type, TypePad, Blogger, LiveJournal, WordPress.com• WordPress self-hosted plugin

• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/openid/

•Thousands of sites accept OpenIDs• Above blogs, Basecamp, Highrise, Plaxo, Identi.ca, FOSSwire, 30,000 more

OpenID• Getting one – even easier!

• You might already have one!

Have an account with any of these sites?

Then you’ve got an OpenID!

OpenID• Dedicated providers

• MyOpenID (I use this)• ClaimID• You! Install OpenID on your server.

• Why go dedicated?• Some are more streamlined, or security oriented. You may just want more control!

OpenID• But I have accounts with many of those sites… how do I pick?

• You don’t have to!

Example time (again)!

Pretty cool.

OpenID• Why? (Web surfer)

• Easier logins• Fewer passwords to remember

• Why? (Web developer)• Easier logins = higher conversion rate• Fewer passwords to remember = more long term users – fewer repeat accounts

What we covered.

Summary• OpenID

• Faster, easier logins• Fewer passwords to remember

• FOSSwire• Cool website about open source• You should read it!

Thank you!