Services use SWITCH edu-ID as authentication mechanism for their users. Universities use SWITCH edu-ID to onboard new students or staff members. Branding is a great new feature to integrate the SWITCH edu-ID into services and to improve the user experience.
What exactly happens, when a user wants to log in to a service that uses SWITCH edu-ID for authentication? For a short moment the user’s browser is redirected to eduid.ch for authentication and then – after successful login – redirected back to the service. Unexperienced users might be confused by that redirection.
Branding the login page with the logo of the service or organisation is a user-friendly way to show the user that the redirection to another website takes place in the context of the service.
As shown in the screenshot with the red boxes, several parts of the login page can be customized: the logo, the page title and a general text that describes in a few words the service and why it uses the SWITCH edu-ID. The latter may also contain contact information to the service helpdesk.
In addition to the login page, branding can also be applied to the SWITCH edu-ID quick registration form. The quick registration is a special flow where a user creates a minimal SWITCH edu-ID (containing first name, last name, email address and password) and is then sent back to the service.
The quick registration flow is useful in cases where it is compulsory for the user to have a SWITCH edu-ID in order to use the service. An example is the registration of prospective students at a university with SWITCH edu-ID.
Branding has to be configured by SWITCH. To set up and request branded login and/or quick registration forms service owners can follow the indications given in the customization documentation.