Flock, the makers of the eponymous Firefox-based web browser, have released the first alpha version of OpenID for Flock, a Flock extension that provides the necessary user interface to add OpenID credentials and easily select one to identify in a growing number of services that already support it.

As you may know, OpenID is an open identification system that aims to deliver a unified way to access virtually any web service that supports it:  you just provide your OpenID to the web service, it recognizes who is providing your identity and will redirect you there to enter your password. The id provider then validates you and if everything goes OK it takes you back to the web service letting it know you have been identified.

OpenID for Flock works very intuitively. It adds a button to the toolbar that you should click first to add your OpenID or OpenIDs: just type the URL (OpenIDs look like web addresses) and press validate to check with your provider that the id exists.

In the screenshot below I have added my OpendID provided by Yahoo! and another by myopenid.com

From then on, when you visit a web service that supports OpenID, the OpenID button will glow. You then click on it to select an OpenID you want to use to identify with the service. You will then be sent to your provider for authentication and sent back with the results of the process.

It’s been a long way for OpenID so far and it is good to see serious attempts to push its adoption, but also exercises on what an intuitive user interface should look like. OpenID is very hard just to explain and understand so it’s also a real challenge for UI designers.

I tried to edit OpenID for Flock to fit into Firefox by modifying the application ID in the extension file but I only got the button in the toolbar and none of the functionality. But I guess it won’t be long before we see a Firefox version.

Flock users can get it from Flock Add-ons repository.

You can get an OpenID now from several providers including Yahoo!, MyOpenID, MySpace, and Vidoop.