what kind of web server are you using (Linux, Windows)?

I was doing some readying about OpenID and the documentation is criminally bad. I'm not, at this point, even really all that sure how OpenID works. It seems like, instead of giving a username/password combo at OpenID-enabled sites, you give it a URL and it figures it out from there? Would you then have to log in at the other site?

I think I'm starting to see where this is going. You log in at your "home" site (livejournal, yahoo, blogger) which is OpenID enabled. Then you go to a site that accepts OpenID authentication and give them the URL of your "home" site and you're automatically logged in.

Does that sound right? Do I have my head around the concept?

I'm not sure what server I'm using. It honestly doesn't matter, at this point, because I'm not using my home page for anything - there's a forward to my LinkedIn profile. If I need to be on a Linux box, that's what I'll do...

The best way to explain how OpenID works is to walk you through how I post to an OpenID enabled site.

(1) Go to http://www.brucecordell.com/

(2) Click on 'Post a Comment'. You'll see a pop-up window.

(3) To post a comment using your LiveJournal account, click on the OpenID option.

(4) Choose LiveJournal from the drop-down menu.

(5) Enter your LiveJournal name (nerdmonkey) into the box. You'll notice that the URL generated becomes http://nerdmonkey.livejournal.com

(6) You'll be shunted to LiveJournal, where you can choose to verify your identity (or not) for this one post, or forever. If you choose the latter, you'll never have to go through the validation process for blogspot again.

Does that help?

I checked this out from a user standpoint last night and it makes sense and seems like a very strong idea. I read over the "OpenID for non super-users" and I'm not sure I totally follow him yet. I'm going to try to set this up on my own website (on Windows servers) and see what I can come up with.

The DataPortability project seems to be on a very interesting track. I'm going to try to get my head around that this weekend.

I can't wait to hear (read?) your feedback. I can understand the value of OpenID, and the other DP initiatives, but my technical skill isn't strong enough to be able to use many of them :)

If you figure out how to use a domain as an OpenID, though... I would REALLY like to set that up.

It turns out this is pretty easy. If you have access to the web pages on your ephealy.com site, I think I can walk you through the process. If this posts, I'm right and this post was authenticated with the OpenID http://dudemonkey.com

It worked, although it displayed "dudemonkey.com" as my OpenID and not "nerdmonkey." It all connects back to the same OpenID (nerdmonkey.livejournal.com)

Here's the document I whipped up to describe what's going on. Let me know what you think. You can delegate this kind of task to someone without giving them any kind of sensitive information (unless you have sensitive information embedded in the code of your website home page).

I think the next step for you would be to get a clearer sense of what you'd like to do with your domain (in addition to using it as your OpenID). I'm not sure how this will work with whatever redirect you have set up on your site so it may be wise to put together a plan for ephealy.com. If you go to dudemonkey.com, you'll see that the site doesn't give any indication that it's filling the dual role of home page AND openID delegate. What you had before wasn't bad, as it served as a nexus to different areas of your online presence. It doesn't need to be complicated.

http://nerdmonkey.livejournal.com/1698.html

You mean you made it understandable to a poor shlub like me? Nice!

I'm reading / re-reading this a few times before I dive in and try it myself... But, thanks a LOT for this.