Another approach to OpenID authentication from Mediamatic

Cameron King cameron at uniquekings.com
Wed Apr 29 18:12:49 UTC 2009


On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 12:18, Chris Messina <chris.messina at gmail.com>wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 1:16 AM, David Christiansen <
> openid-userexperience at davidchristiansen.com> wrote:
>
>> I also fell into the 'typical user' trap and clicked through the 'Log In'
>> dropdown, hit back to the reboot site THEN saw the alternatives. I think
>> user's (and this includes me I guess ;)) subconsciously don't read a whole
>> page before deciding what to do - they find the first thing that looks like
>> it will meet their needs and click! Frankly on first pass I didn't even read
>> the other red headings - this is not a dig at the site design, but more an
>> observation on user behaviour.
>>
>
> This is absolutely true. People don't read on the web, they scan, and even
> at that, they look for handles to grab on to and just click. I blame Google.
>

This isn't specific to the web or Google.  Everything from advertisements to
supermarket doors are designed that way.  The point is, that a user of any
system on the web or off - shouldn't have to re-learn every environment.

Advertisements rely on viewers scanning left to right, top to bottom.
Doorways have handles where you need to pull, and bars where you need to
push - green for enter, red for do not enter.  Because our day-to-day
activities match a learned pattern, we don't have to think - we simply do.
Personally, I would be very annoyed if I had to keep re-learning how to
login to a webpage.

What about in this hypothetical autocomplete box, if there were some
nascar-ish buttons that autofilled the box and hilighted the username
potion.  As a "hint" for the clueless.

Scanners would still catch the button intended for them without obsuring
what's really happening.  Maybe in the future they would explore other
options or run their own - or maybe they just click their familiar button
each time....

Who are you?
.____________________________. .____.
|____________________________| |_Go_|
[g][y][o][f][m][.][.][.]

(type a service, username or email address that you want to identify
yourself as, or click a familiar button)

Not trying to re-design your idea, just my two cents.
Cameron.
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