If you build it (right), they will come (on any old platform, even a phone)
I’m rather enamoured of OpenID, the really neat, decentralised way to log in to any OpenID-supporting web site with one username/password. Simultaneously, I’ve had a Vox account since I was invited to try the beta pre-launch. It was moderately interesting as a community-based approach to blogging, but as I already have this blog I never used it for that purpose.
At some point (I forget when), Vox became an OpenID provider. “Great,” I thought, “I’ll use it as my OpenID.” All was well until a few days ago, when I tried to sign in to Vox using Opera Mini on my Sony Ericsson K800i. Here’s a screenshot of the sign-in form:
!(Vox sign-in form)http://www.timandkathy.co.uk/journal/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/vox-signin.png!
The orange “Sign in” button is a button – right? Wrong. It’s made up of the following markup:
@Sign In@
@
@
So, they’ve got a “real” submit button there, which probably attends to an imagined screen reader scenario–CSS and JavaScript off; but because Opera Mini usually behaves – for all intents and purposes – like a desktop browser, it attempts to render the fancy orange button but doesn’t quite have the nous to interpret whatever JavaScript event binding code Six Apart are using to make the orange button submit the form.
I emailed Vox support:
bq. The sign-in button isn’t a ‘real’ html button and therefore I can’t sign in using Opera Mini.
They replied:
bq. We’re sorry you’re having problems signing in to Vox. We would like to suggest that you try using Internet Explorer or Firefox when signing in to Vox. We fully support these browsers and you’ll find that you can use all of Vox’s functions when using them.
bq. For more information about what Vox needs in order to work, check out our Requirements for using Vox article. (emphasis mine)
I replied to them, for what it’s worth:
bq. OK - that’s fine. I would say something about “just use normal HTML and it works anywhere!” but I guess I’ll just find another OpenID provider.
So that’s what I did. I signed up with MyOpenId, who seemingly know how to use normal HTML elements for their intended purpose, rendering the service usable on Opera Mini.
If ever there was a lesson in keeping things simple and using Progressive Enhancement, there it is. For no extra effort, more people can use your service in more places and using more devices and platforms. What’s not to like?