NASCAR - A two-dimensional issue

1. Select method (CC, PayPal, BitCoin, ACH, etc.)
2. Select provider

For proprietary provider schemes like PayPal, 1 usually implies 2.

Although it would be nice integrating both steps in one blow, I believe that would
be too inflexible since the different methods may be quite complex and potentially
updated every now and then.

It is probably better that the Platform/UA/Wallet/Whatever remember the last selection
(if applicable for the service in question) while still giving the user an option to switch.

If we OTOH believe that integration of method and provider selection is crucial,
we will end-up with a scheme requiring multiple owners of a single UI (Window)
since it must always be possible to back-paddle to the method selector.

A thing that I find a bit cumbersome is establishing trust in the software for
competing providers sharing the same method such as VISA and MasterCard.
I don't really see any other solution than treating them as separate methods
and associated provider code modules.  The method selector should be able
to optionally unify these methods with respect to the user-interface anyway.

There must of course be an initial discovery phase as well.  The only problem
I see is that it must not leak data user-data.  A possible solution/workaround
is that discovery always brings up the method selection window but doesn't
emit any data until the user performs a selection.  Cancel is one of the choices.

Yes, this mechanism MUST be an integral part of the browser otherwise it
won't work.

Thoughts?

Anders

Received on Saturday, 2 August 2014 05:07:46 UTC