Authentication and Identity

When Flojourn was designed, much consideration was given to how and when and even if authentication and registration was necessary. The aim was to remove or delay the need for people to use any kind of authentication to browse content and make this as much like visiting a normal website.

Authentication only needed to create

Only when people want to add content, such as comments to public journals or create their own journals does the need for any kind of authentication arise. This means that if you are using Flojourn to give people information, there is no barrier to people freely visiting your Public journals and seeing the information you present.

When you want to access journals that are not public or you want to create your own content, you need to use some form of authentication.

Simplifying Authentication

When not logged in the sign in button appears at the top of the NavList. This makes it easily findable ready for when the visitor need it.

Clicking it converts the button into the sign in form. By default it asks for an email address. But clicking on the "Social Auth" button offers a few popular social sign-in options including: Google, Linked In, Facebook and Github.

Email One-Time-Passcode

When someone enters an email address, Flojourn sends them a message with a button to click. Clicking the button opens a browser window and logs them in.

If they need to log in on another device they can do the same and as long as the same email address is used, they will access the same data on both devices.

The social login providers (Google, Facebook, Linked In, Github) present an authentication screen and when accepted returns them to Flojourn logged in.

Regardless of which auth provider is used, the email address associated with that account is used internally to identify the user, but this is never presented to other users or in the user identity (see below).

Your data linked to your email

Regardless of which sign in method, internally Flojourn uses the direct email address or the email address you use with your social account to identify your data within Flojourn.

This means that if someone has an email address of [email protected] and they use that email address when they log into their Google account, then logging into Flojourn with either the [email protected] directly or with that Google account will connect to the same identity and therefore the same journals etc.

If on the other hand Bob used a different email address when logging into Facebook, then logging into Flojourn with Facebook would see him as a different user and would not give him access to the same data as when logged in with Google or with [email protected] directly.

Your Identity In Flojourn

When you first log into Flojourn it creates a new profile and generates a random user name, and a random avatar. There is no need to change these.

Any journals or entries in them will be marked with this identity.

You can change your identity at any time and any number of times. You may want to make yourself recognisable to people you know in the real world. You may just not like your random name. But this is up to you.

Note that entries in journals do not refer your current profile and will record your username as it was when you created the entry. So it is worth sorting out your identity as soon as you can.

Changing Identity

As noted your login indentifies you internally by the email address. However your identity in the system as other users see you is completely random or controlled by you and will not reveal your email address.

To change your user name and avatar, click on your user name that appears at the top of the NavList. This expands a number of subitems. The first is Profile which allows you to change your user name and also write a publicly visible About description. Use this to tell people what you want them to know about you.