Shibboleth Developers

[Scott Cantor <>]

> Hmm...  UI issues are the hardest part, I think, because one has to 
> think like so many others think.  What strikes me about the draft 
> below is that it sounds like we're talking to each other and in a 
> different universe from most others.

Liberty, for one, is entirely built around the notion of identity provider as 
the term of discourse, though they're not quite to the
point of branding it for consumers yet. Personally, I think it's the least 
objectionable one I've heard. I don't think there's a
term that exists in any universe that non-techies live in.

> How about something more like:
> ----------------------
> We were unable to contact your authorization provider and therefore 
> cannot grant access to you at this time. Please contact your 
> provider's help desk or office for assistance. Be sure to describe 
> the site you are trying to use, the time at which this problem 
> occurred, and the location from which you are working.

I don't know, I'm not big on "authz provider", but can't put my finger on 
why. People know the term, I suppose, though mostly in the
credit card context.

I thought about mentioning location, but decided that there was nothing very 
useful we could ask except for IP address, which is out
of the question, though we could print it somewhere.

> Shib Site name:_____________   Current Date and Time: 
> ______________ [tzone]
> 
> ----------------------
> That last line would help the user talk to their support folks.  They 
> could even print the web page and take it with them!

I agree, but we're not building a dynamic message here yet. I needed a 
placeholder for "SAMLSOAPBinding::send() detected an invalid
content type". I think we can all agree this is better than that. ;-)

-- Scott

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