What is OpenID?
OpenID is an open standard that lets you sign in to other sites on the Web using your WordPress.com account. This means less usernames and passwords to remember and less time spent signing up for new sites.
How do I get an OpenID?
If you have a WordPress.com blog, you have an OpenID already! An OpenID is a URL, and your OpenID is the URL of your blog, for example: http://matt.wordpress.com/
How do I use my OpenID?
Look for sites with sign in forms that look like this:
Enter your OpenID - that’s the URL of your weblog:
Click the button, and you will be redirected to WordPress.com. If you are already logged in, you will be asked if you want to pass your identity to the site:
Click “Yes; just this time”, or “Yes; always” if you don’t want to be asked this question again for this site.
You will be redirected back to the site and logged in, all without using a username or password!
What if I’m not signed in to WordPress.com?
If you try to use OpenID while you aren’t signed in to WordPress.com, you’ll get the following message:
The page does not contain a login form or links; instead it encourages you to browse to wordpress.com using a bookmark. This is to protect you from phishing; a bad site might try to send you to an imitation of WordPress.com and steal your password.
Where can I use my OpenID?
You can find a list of sites that you can use your OpenID with here. You might want to try out Ma.gnolia.com for bookmarks, Zooomr.com for photo sharing or stikis for creating Web based sticky notes.
Why has a site requested my profile information?
Some sites ask for extra information about you the first time you sign in, so they can create a full account for you - things like your e-mail address or favoured nickname. If a site does this, WordPress.com will ask for your permission before sharing your details. You will get a screen that looks like this:
Can anyone else use my OpenID?
WordPress.com OpenIDs belong to weblogs, not individual users. Any user who has the Administrator role on a weblog can authenticate using that weblog as their OpenID. You probably don’t have to worry about this, but you should keep it in mind if you have multiple administrators set up for your blog.
