Come in - we're OpenID enabled

Starting today we are OpenID enabled, meaning you can use your OpenID to log into our web site.

## What is OpenID?

From an OpenID provider web site:

Most useful sites on the web have a concept of identity. You log in with your username, do something for a while and then logout. Whether it is checking your email, writing a blog entry, or purchasing a book, you tell the site who you are at some point. Identity is a very important part of the web, and is what makes the internet useful.

Maintaining identities across multiple websites is difficult. You register at each site, choosing a different username and password. It is tedious and many sites ask for information that you have already provided elsewhere. What if someone has already taken the username you want? Most people end up choosing a username they don’t like, or simply leaving the site without registering.

What is OpenID?

OpenID is a new way to identify yourself all over the web. With your own personal OpenID you can login to any OpenID-enabled site (there are over 1,000 of them and that number is growing everyday) and identify yourself as you.

It’s one username and one password for all of the sites that you go to. It means no more registration screens on the sites you go to. Most importantly, OpenID is open; its a protocol that has been developed by a diverse community interested in solving the identity problem once-and-for-all. You can use it at any website that is OpenID enabled as if I already had an account. It blurs the lines of where you you have an account, and the question you ask changes from “Do I have an account?” to “Is the site OpenID enabled?”

(You might also watch a short 5 minute presentation here)

## How do I use OpenID at projectpier.org?

### If you have an OpenID

* Visit www.projectpier.org.

* Click on "Log in using OpenID" in the login block

* Enter your OpenID.

* Authenticate at your OpenID provider (click on the "trust" option if you like). The first time you will have to enter your user name and eMail address.

* You're done :-)

### If you don't have an OpenID

* First get an OpenID (see below).

* Visit www.projectpier.org.

* On the right side of our web site you will see a login block. There you have to register an account on our site.

* On your "My account" page you will find a tab "OpenID identities" - add your OpenID and click "Add".

* You're done. The next time you can login as described above.

## Where can I get an OpenID?

Simply go to one of the OpenID providers like https://www.myopenid.com/ or http://claimid.com/ and sign up.