The “purple-i”
I call this icon the purple-i. But this isn’t without its problems. I’ve been on phone conversations where folks think I’m saying “purple eye”.
Whatever the name, this thing occupies a lot of my thinking these days. Why? Because I’d like to see it on every site and application. Every e-merchant, alumni, government, healthcare provider. Every site. Even if the site supports OpenID; more about OpenID/i-card RP user experience simplification story another day. Or SAML.
Today I want to make a case for why I feel this way. I’ll be interested to see what other folks think of my reasoning. Okay, here goes.
Every site should put up the purple-i today because:
- By proudly displaying the icon you’re taking a stand for a better, safer Internet.
- It will delight visitors who already have a selector. They can create accounts and login with a click or two. No more forms to fill; no more passwords to remember.
- It is really really easy to do (there are even a few rabid i-card folks who’ll do it for you. For nothing).
Standing for a better, safer Internet
By displaying this icon, you take a stand for what the Internet should be and against it’s current hassles and dangers. You align your site with a growing community of software architects, open source developers, and policy makers who are passionate that we should:
- Help give people more control over their online identities.
- Protect people from phishing and other malicious attacks that are daily on the increase.
- Eliminate the hassle of filling in forms, and answering the same questions over and over.
- Allow people to not just to self-assert information, as they do today, but also to reliably convey what other people or authorities (banks, credit agencies, governments, universities, professional associations, etc.) say about them. (Which can even be done preserving your anonymity.)
- Protect children from predators; (Or more precisely, provide a foundation for solutions that can do this).
The purple-i is a promise to deliver these things. Join this force for good.
Delighting the Selector-equipped
Anyone with a Selector knows that the purple-i means that they don’t need to remember a password, they don’t need to fill in forms and they enjoy far more protection from the bad guys (Sarah Palin’s Yahoo password reset hack should give us all pause).
The purple-i on the site acts differently depending on whether you do or don’t have a Selector. If you have one, it just works; your Selector pops up. If you don’t, the site displays a page that explains the wonders of Information Cards and Selectors and gives you a list of downloadable Selectors for your favorite operating system (or soon, smart phone). [Imagine a consumer-friendly version of this page (and with a couple more Selectors!) The RP Best Practices Working Group of the ICF is writing up the guidelines for this stuff.]
It’s Really Easy
I know the site isn’t pretty (we’re in the middle of a redesign), but here’s a page of just some of the resources available to help sites add the purple-i to their login area.
<shameless-plug>My company, Parity, is willing to help you do this–we’ll even do it for free (with some fine print in there
. Email me paul at parity.com )</shameless-plug>
