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I personally feel the pain point of password/identity management across different websites, and I'm using LastPass to help. While LastPass's browser integration

I personally feel the pain point of password/identity management across different websites, and I'm using LastPass to help. While LastPass's browser integration is great, its UX is... lacking. Mozilla's strategy to associate Firefox browser with identity is IMO awesome and the first sign that it's pioneering vs reacting to Chrome (before this news, I've always viewed Firefox as Chrome's successful but still little brother in terms of features, polish, performance, support, etc.). BUT (and this is a big "but" I feel), this is contingent with their execution of browser integration. W/O rock solid browser integration with fluid UX, this would just add noise to identity services and cause more consumer confusion. Ultimately, I'm rooting them on because a) I'm concerned about my security and b) I have too many passwords and c) I'm hella lazy.

donrhummy 14y ago
Persona doesn't require any browser integration. It works in all browsers that implement local storage. So it works via modern Javascript.
- johnkchow 14y ago
  I'm sure Firefox will release a Firefox plugin that will complement the basic service of identification. Imagine a plugin that lists all the websites you can authenticate with Persona. Or what if you had multiple personas, the firefox plugin can help you manage the selection of personas. Eventually, it'd become baked into Firefox, giving users that sense of it fundamentally "safer" than other browsers. Sure, this is all speculation, but it's a good marketing strategy on Mozilla's end and the start of gaining back the average consumer market share.
  - jedp 14y ago
    Hi, John, you have some cool ideas there! Hope to see you hacking on Persona. As a member of the team, I just want to clarify that this is not an effort to make firefox alone more secure; it's an effort to make the web more secure. Any browser vendor can implement the protocol, natively or in a plugin, and we hope other browsers will. Same for identity providers. The spec and code are all open-source: https://github.com/mozilla/browserid https://github.com/mozilla/browserid So Mozilla's strategy remains the same: Put the users of the internet first. That's why we made this.
    - johnkchow 14y ago
      It's great that Mozilla has made Persona open for everyone to develop with. While I still believe that Firefox has a lot to gain with Persona, I also agree with your vision that this is a good step towards a safer web (only time will tell if this takes off). I'll take it a step further and argue that if Firefox lead the charge with Persona tightly integrated, it'll make the web even SAFER for the average user, because it will force other browsers to tackle the issue of security as well, benefiting all users regardless of browser platform.
fmarier 14y ago
Can you be more specific as to how you find the UX lacking? Getting UX right is a priority for Persona.
- johnkchow 14y ago
  I was referring to LastPass's Chrome extension specifically, not Persona's UX. Sorry for the confusion.
  - pwman 14y ago
    Can you be more specific as to how you find the LastPass UX lacking? Getting UX right is a priority for LastPass too!
    - vidarh 14y ago
      Another LastPass user here. The two big obvious ones: - Completely non-standard menu behaviour and appearance - I to this day can not associate the shortcut icons for copy/edit etc. with the password. Maybe that's just m.. - The one single function I use the most often is "generate password", and it's hidden one menu down from the root. - The second most frequently used function for me is to view the password, when I need to enter it somewhere where I haven't got Lastpass installed (on another device, so copy/past isn't sufficient), yet that requires me to click on the site, "edit" and "show password".
    - jordanthoms 14y ago
      Long time last pass user here too. Last pass is great but there are a few things which really annoy me in the chrome version. - the ux for the login bar at the top is pretty horrible, its distracting when it pops down and it usually requires me to dismiss it more than once. I'd prefer a less intrusive option, maybe just a highlight on the icon. This is my big issue. - sometimes I want to login to a site with different details from what my auto login is, I no have no option but to sign out of last pass. - handling of multiple Google accounts isn't great, granted this is mostly Google's fault but something to auto login me to all my accounts on every computer would be awesome.

donrhummy 14y ago

Persona doesn't require any browser integration. It works in all browsers that implement local storage. So it works via modern Javascript.

johnkchow 14y ago
I'm sure Firefox will release a Firefox plugin that will complement the basic service of identification. Imagine a plugin that lists all the websites you can authenticate with Persona. Or what if you had multiple personas, the firefox plugin can help you manage the selection of personas. Eventually, it'd become baked into Firefox, giving users that sense of it fundamentally "safer" than other browsers. Sure, this is all speculation, but it's a good marketing strategy on Mozilla's end and the start of gaining back the average consumer market share.
- jedp 14y ago
  Hi, John, you have some cool ideas there! Hope to see you hacking on Persona. As a member of the team, I just want to clarify that this is not an effort to make firefox alone more secure; it's an effort to make the web more secure. Any browser vendor can implement the protocol, natively or in a plugin, and we hope other browsers will. Same for identity providers. The spec and code are all open-source: https://github.com/mozilla/browserid https://github.com/mozilla/browserid So Mozilla's strategy remains the same: Put the users of the internet first. That's why we made this.
  - johnkchow 14y ago
    It's great that Mozilla has made Persona open for everyone to develop with. While I still believe that Firefox has a lot to gain with Persona, I also agree with your vision that this is a good step towards a safer web (only time will tell if this takes off). I'll take it a step further and argue that if Firefox lead the charge with Persona tightly integrated, it'll make the web even SAFER for the average user, because it will force other browsers to tackle the issue of security as well, benefiting all users regardless of browser platform.

fmarier 14y ago

Can you be more specific as to how you find the UX lacking? Getting UX right is a priority for Persona.

johnkchow 14y ago
I was referring to LastPass's Chrome extension specifically, not Persona's UX. Sorry for the confusion.
- pwman 14y ago
  Can you be more specific as to how you find the LastPass UX lacking? Getting UX right is a priority for LastPass too!
  - vidarh 14y ago
    Another LastPass user here. The two big obvious ones: - Completely non-standard menu behaviour and appearance - I to this day can not associate the shortcut icons for copy/edit etc. with the password. Maybe that's just m.. - The one single function I use the most often is "generate password", and it's hidden one menu down from the root. - The second most frequently used function for me is to view the password, when I need to enter it somewhere where I haven't got Lastpass installed (on another device, so copy/past isn't sufficient), yet that requires me to click on the site, "edit" and "show password".
  - jordanthoms 14y ago
    Long time last pass user here too. Last pass is great but there are a few things which really annoy me in the chrome version. - the ux for the login bar at the top is pretty horrible, its distracting when it pops down and it usually requires me to dismiss it more than once. I'd prefer a less intrusive option, maybe just a highlight on the icon. This is my big issue. - sometimes I want to login to a site with different details from what my auto login is, I no have no option but to sign out of last pass. - handling of multiple Google accounts isn't great, granted this is mostly Google's fault but something to auto login me to all my accounts on every computer would be awesome.