Login, sign in, ... what?

jDavid jdavid.net at gmail.com
Thu Nov 12 19:02:06 UTC 2009


I like the notion of using a verb, like 'identify' for a identity
delegation service; however, it sounds a bit rude or obtuse.

it feels like 'IDENTIFY YOURSELF', as if an officer of the law is
making a proclamation, with an assertion that something bad will
happen if you fail to announce who you are

Verify, is nice too, but that seems farther away from what people are
already doing.  I feel like sites use 'sign in' and 'log in' because
both tend to signal to the user that if you identify your self, we
will 'let you use our site'.

For brainstorming and semi comical purposes a few other words:
* verify
* expose
* assert
* present
* announce
* shake hands -- the 3rd party site wants to 'shake hands' with your
profile at '1st party site name'
* hug -- 3rd party site would like to hug your 1st party site
'profile' and share information

At myspace we considered calling the JSL, myspace connect, but as part
of our branding we decided else wise.  I feel like branding, will
always win on something like verbiage.  I do however like the idea of
standardizing avatar picture sizes, and other data formats.

I also feel like the general flow could become more standardized.  I
feel like in the spring we were making progress on that, but now that
I am no longer working at myspace, I feel like OpenID development has
slowed.

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 10:26 AM, Chris Messina <chris.messina at gmail.com> wrote:
> And don't forget Twitter and Facebook's "Connect".
> It would be nice if we established a convention and promoted it, but I'm not
> sure that'll happen.
> Like profile photo sizes, each site does things a little differently and yet
> the effect of choosing any of the listed options doesn't really effect the
> overall usability of an app.
> As well, "sign in" and "log in" no longer mean anything semantically —
> they're just short hand for "give me access to my account" (since "signing
> in" was something you did when you showed up for a field trip at school, and
> "logging in" was something you did on a black screen, green text terminal).
> "Connect" is the more interesting language, since it implies an ongoing
> fusing of two resources — where data flows over a "connection"... not unlike
> what happens when you "plug in" a plug to a wall outlet. Until you sever the
> connection, the juice will flow.
> I have also seen new language emerging in comment forms that is starting to
> approximate what it means to present an OpenID and confirm ownership of it:
> http://flic.kr/p/7eMb8H
> Here the language used it "identify yourself via"...
> JS-Kit's Echo comment service uses the email metaphor to good, if not
> somewhat strange, effect:
> http://flic.kr/p/7fcHwU
> http://js-kit.com/
>
> Anyway, all this is to say that we haven't quite cracked the nut yet as to
> what's really going on with something like OpenID to say that "sign in" or
> "log in" is sufficient. "Connect" is closer, but obscures which data is
> being made available as part of that connection.
> I'm glad you brought this up though, since it is something that bears
> inspection.
> Chris
> On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 8:27 PM, Johannes Ernst
> <jernst+openid.net at netmesh.us> wrote:
>>
>> Informal Survey:
>>
>> Yahoo:
>>        Sign In
>>
>> Google:
>>        Sign in / Sign out
>>
>> Digg:
>>        Login / Logout
>>
>> Slashdot:
>>        Log In / Log Out
>>
>> AOL:
>>        Sign In
>>
>> MySpace:
>>        Log In
>>
>> Facebook:
>>        Login
>>
>> MSN:
>>        Sign in
>>
>> NYTimes:
>>        Log In
>>
>>
>> ... and this isn't even limited to OpenID Log/sign/in. Even capitalization
>> and spacing is different.
>>
>> As part of the OpenID user experience, can we narrow this down? Or is that
>> counter-productive?
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>>
>>
>> Johannes.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> user-experience mailing list
>> user-experience at lists.openid.net
>> http://lists.openid.net/mailman/listinfo/openid-user-experience
>
>
>
> --
> Chris Messina
> Open Web Advocate
>
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>
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>
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>



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