There’s a brand new plugin for WordPress that now fully supports the power of OpenID. Will Norris and Chris Messina have released version 3 of the OpenID plugin for WordPress, which lets you turn your blog into an OpenID provider. To take full advantage of the plugin, you’ll also need the XRDS-Simple plugin, a service discover framework.

As with previous versions, users can login with an OpenID to leave a comment. This is especially useful for blogs that require registration that ordinarily would keep users from leaving comments. OpenID is even a good option for sites that allow anonymous comments, as it gives users a way to legitimize their comment, possibly avoiding administrator moderation.

Norris has a full post on the new plugin. The new features that excite me are the ability to be an OpenID provider. This is often the only way large companies support OpenID, but it’s been difficult for Joe Blogger to be able to do the same. With the latest plugin, you can use the base domain as your OpenID. You can also allow other bloggers or commenters on your blog to have their own OpenIDs, something like example.com/author/username.

Another great feature, if you’re only using the plugin for yourself, is a simple way to delegate to another OpenID service. At the bottom of your user profile (Users menu in the admin, then Your Profile), is the option for OpenID delegation.

Here you can choose another OpenID provider to handle authentication, while still using your own domain as your OpenID identifier. This gives you the power to change providers in the future, and appear the same to others. That’s about as open as it gets.

See also:

• Tutorial: OpenID for Dummies
• Users Demand OpenID: Google, Twitter Among Top
• Think Twice About Supporting OpenID