So you want to log into WebCT?
People using the newest version of OS X, Mountain Lion, might see this warning after logging into WebCT:
This stems from a new feature called "Gatekeeper," meant to protect your computer from untrusted and possibly nefarious apps. But that doesn't matter – the main problem is that you can only seem to press the "Deny" button, since "Java will not allow any access to this applet." So how are you supposed to access WebCT?
Clicking on "Show Details" offers more information:
A certificate, in essence, is cryptographic file that verifies someone's or something's identity, and provides one of the most foundational elements of security on the Internet. With digital certificates, we know that facebook.com is really Facebook, not steal-your-facebook-info.com, and that your data is passing safely between your computer and Facebook — or in this case, that WebCT is really WebCT, not a malicious third-party.
In this case, the certificate exists, but expired over five months ago: this means, in theory, that the certificate could be invalid or stolen. They can expire by mistake, though, and Emerson is trustworthy, so it's probably safe to trust this certificate. It's not really obvious, but the only way to do this is to check "Always trust 'Blackboard Inc.'"
After entering your computer's password and clicking "Allow" in the Java prompt, you may face another warning:
This browser is unsupported? But it's the latest version of Safari (6.0.1) on the latest version of OS X. Checking what browsers are supported identifies the issue:
The page hasn't been updated since the days of OS X 10.6 and Safari 4 – which were released more than three years ago, and are two versions outdated. I managed to track down a more recent version of the page, though:
The penultimate OS X release is at least mentioned, but every browser tested is "unsupported," or, according to the page's glossary, "either impossible or not tested." Since WebCT seems to work, it's probably the latter. The page also says that "Google Chrome is not supported" — which might make sense, if Chrome wasn't the most popular browser in the world.
Maybe some these problems stem from the fact that this version of WebCT was initially released in 2005 — the year President Bush started his second term, YouTube was founded, and Pope John Paul II died. At least it still works, though — if a little slowly.