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Subject: NIM GUI: identity displays should tell user how to proceed
NIM from either MIT KfW Beta 2 or from secure-
endpoints.com/binaries/mit-kfw-3-2-0/kfw-3-2-0.msi.


Standard view:

If an identity has expired, the second line of the identity display
should say “Expired. Click here to renew” instead of the
current “Expired.”

If the second line of an identity display is blank, it should instead
contain “Click here to renew.”

These prompts mimic the helpful messages displayed before there is a
default identity.


Advanced view:

If a credential has expired, the credential line or a line under it
should include the text “Click here to renew.”

If an identity doesn’t have any credentials, there should be a line of
text below the identity saying “Click here to obtain credentials.”
A credential renewal operation is one that does not require the user to
enter a password or insert a smartcard, etc. If the credentials are
expired the user can obtain a new credential.

I'm not sure I agree with this proposed change. Clicking on an identity
performs a selection operation. It does not perform an action. A
double-click performs a "display properties" action.

While it would be possible to use a hyperlink as the second line of the
identity display in the basic view to trigger an action, that is a very
unorthodox ui approach and will make the display very cluttered. I
suggest you produce some mock-ups of the proposed ui after the change
before you write any code.

Perhaps a better approach would be to display balloon text when the user
hovers the mouse over the identity. The balloon text could include
hints and links to the actions the user can perform. This would keep
the display clean and not get in the way of users that have already
learned what they need to do efficiently.

Jeffrey Altman