Community development is hard enough as it is that we don’t need unnecessary barriers to entry (or do we?). Right now, as we speak, there are about 85 sites just like OPIEWeb for different topics ranging from parenting to math or even starting a new business. You can see the complete list here.

It’s an interesting experiment we have entered into. We all started with the same look and feel and we have slowly differentiated ourselves mainly through logos and colors. Some have gone well beyond that.

We all serve different communities as well, so in a sense, it’s a really huge usability experiment.

One of the more controversial decisions when building the software was the use of OpenID for site login. In theory, OpenID allows me to avoid having to maintain your user ID and password – your OpenID provider does that for me. Presumably, you choose an OpenID provider that integrates with some other service you use on a regular basis like email. We can all use fewer log ins and passwords to remember, right?

There is a hitch. OpenID uses a novel and therefore less familiar method of logging into participating sites like OPIEWeb. This breaks one of Jacob Nielson’s Heuristics for Web Usability (namely, “Consistency and Standards”). Once you get past the initial “who is your provider” screen, you see the familiar username and password boxes, but how many people never get to that point?

Apparently on some of the sites, a lot. So many in fact, that there is a movement among site owners to replace it with a traditional username/password scheme like you see on most sites.

My opinion is that OPIEWeb has bigger fish to fry (like getting more questions and site promotion), but I could be wrong. How big of an issue is our login setup for you? Let us know in on the Question side or via email at OPIEWeb@gmail.com.