Those Pesky Slashes

[Kurt Raschke]

On May 28, 2005, at 10:19 AM, Xageroth Sekarius wrote:

> It's for some of those same usability issues that Martin is raising
> that I planned on using an alternative syntax to URL's completely in
> the project I'm involved with. Aside from just usability, there's my
> concern for privacy in OpenID. Some people are going to want to log in
> to a site but not necessarily share with them all their daily
> happenings or deepest feelings. It seems odd to have to register a
> seperate subdomain for the sake of privacy and then carry two "global
> identifiers", one for some privacy and the other for sites you trust
> or don't care.


Well, first off there's no clear reason to register a separate 
subdomain.  Using presently available technologies, you could register 
for a TypeKey account, then use the TypeKey to OpenID proxy code.  As 
time goes by, sites will probably show up which allow you to register, 
perhaps even anonymously, for an OpenID identity.  They would then give 
you a URL which you could use to log in to OpenID-enabled services.  It 
may not be the cleanest syntax, but it preserves the functionality of 
existing URLs, which provides OpenID with a certain simplicity.  If you 
have an OpenID enabled blog, then all you need to know is its URL in 
order to use it to authenticate on another site with OpenID.  There's 
no need to figure out what its representation is in yet another 
arbitrary namespace.  And for those without a weblog, or those wanting 
another identity, then you can always go the TypeKey-like route:

http://www.someOpenIDprovider.org/~YourAnonymousUsername  (which would 
point to an OpenID server)

How hard would something like that be to remember?

-Kurt