Re: Basic Offer->Purchase->Receipt diagram

On 9/11/14 5:56 PM, Manu Sporny wrote:
> The following diagram has been added to the Web Commerce API spec and
> provides an overview of the creation of an offer for sale, the execution
> of a purchase, and the transmission back of a digital receipt
> (proof-of-purchase):
>
> https://web-payments.org/specs/source/web-commerce-api/#payment-flow-overview

Good to have, but two problems I had following it:

1. Payment flow overview Text don't correspond with Payment flow Diagram

I expected the numbering from the diagram to correspond to the 
numbering in the list of steps above it, so was initially fouled up 
attempting to follow the progress, because they aren't the same; they 
overlap, and start at a different point in the process, and have extra 
steps in one or the other (I think).

This expectation might be because of my patent work, years back -- 
there was a hard rule that any number on a diagram MUST have a 
corresponding explanation for that number in the text -- so I was 
assuming it was there.

And perhaps they don't need to be in sync, but still I suggest that it 
will be easier to follow (especially for those of us whose technical 
understanding of the process is sketchy, and are attempting to use the 
diagram to help with that understanding) if either:
   a) The series of steps in the list above is rewritten into 8 steps 
to correspond exactly with the 8 steps in the diagram; or,
   b) The steps in the diagram are each inserted in brackets at the 
end of the correct step in the list. This will only work if all 8 
diagram steps can be inserted in the 7 steps in the list -- though it 
might be possible to add extra steps in the list so that all 8 diagram 
steps are accommodated there.

2. AFAI can determine, there are three terms meaning the same thing:
Payment Provider
Payment Processor
(payment service)
The one in the text list is Payment Provider, and it does not appear 
in the diagram, which IMO is needlessly a strain on the limited grey 
matter of the reader.  :-)

Steven Rowat


>
> You can view the diagram itself here:
>
> https://web-payments.org/specs/source/web-commerce-api/basicOfferAndPurchase.svg
>
> There are also diagrams for credential storage (such as storing a
> government-issued ID card) here:
>
> https://web-payments.org/specs/source/identity-credentials/basicCredentialCreation.svg
>
> and credential transmission:
>
> https://web-payments.org/specs/source/identity-credentials/basicCredentialFlow.svg
>
> -- manu
>

Received on Friday, 12 September 2014 03:17:29 UTC