[OpenID] Combining Google & Yahoo user experience research

[Chris Messina]

On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 7:01 PM, Dick Hardt <dick.hardt at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Both companies have been asked for suggestions on how to merge the feedback
> from these two sets of research.  Allen Tom & I have been exchanging mail
> about how to do that, and here is one way to merge the set of conclusions:
>
>    1. Based on the test Yahoo & Gmail have done earlier in the year, we
>    already both believe that any "login" buttons have to include the brand of
>    the IDP and must be right next to the login box.  While that might not scale
>    nor promote the OpenID technology brand, that is just the fact of life.
>
> I don't agree is it a fact of life. It is a fact that it is a conclusion
> from your study, but it is not a fact that the RP should decide on a few
> IdPs to promote on their page.
>
> I do agree that a mechanism to let a most users know they can use an IdP of
> their choosing is a good thing. A smart client could do that.
>

I think we can (and must) do better than this. I agree with Dick that this
is not a "fact of life". It's not like there's a list of @gmail.com, @
hotmail.com, @aol.com or @yahoo.com in every email application.

In fact, this points further to the need to solve the problem of email
addresses as OpenID identifiers. I don't think that usability work can
really continue (or be plausible long term) until we've made email
identifiers part of the formal OpenID spec.

I know we've all been busy, but I strongly think that we should advance the
EAUT spec [1] before we make any final decisions about whether RPs MUST
sport any number of IDP logos/login buttons.

Otherwise, we will have failed.

Chris

[1] http://eaut.org/
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