Certain Users Are Unable to Access Ares Content Within the CMS Interface

Issue 

Some users may experience the following issues accessing Ares content from an integrated course/learning management system (CMS) such as Blackboard or Canvas:

• Clicking on Ares content within the CMS sends the user to the Ares logon web page (GLogon2.html) or displays an error instead of sending the user to the Ares course/item content
• Instructors receive an error message such as "An error occurred while attempting to process your LTI request" when attempting to create an Ares course within the CMS

If only some users are experiencing these issues, it is likely because those users' web browser privacy settings have been configured to block cross-site tracking, which will block Ares content from loading within the CMS web page. These issues will likely be most prevalent for Safari web browser users as the Safari web browser is configured to prevent cross-site tracking by default, however, these privacy settings are also offered by other major web browsers such as Google Chrome or Firefox and may potentially cause issues if enabled. Note that Google Chrome's Incognito mode will also block third-party cookies by default and cause issues accessing Ares content within the CMS in private browsing windows. Tracking may also be disabled in the user's web browser if a privacy browser extension such as Privacy Badger, Ghostery, or uBlock is installed.

Resolution

This issue must be resolved on a user-by-user basis by adjusting the privacy settings within the user's web browser to allow cross-site tracking. To help users who are experiencing these issues, Ares administrators can add notice text to the Ares logon web page (GLogon2.html) so that users who are redirected to this page when attempting to access Ares content from the CMS are instructed to attempt to resolve the issue by adjusting their browser's privacy settings. Instructions for both of these processes are detailed below.

Modifying Privacy Settings in the Web Browser

To resolve issues accessing Ares course content within the CMS, users will need to adjust their privacy settings in the web browser to allow cross-site tracking. Cross-site tracking is disabled in the Safari web browser by default but similar "do not track" options are also offered by other major web browsers and may cause issues if enabled. Instructions for configuring these privacy settings for several major web browsers are detailed below.

Adding a Notice to the Ares Logon Web Page

As this issue is resolved on a user-by-user basis by adjusting their personal browser privacy settings, a notice should be added to the Ares logon web page (GLogon2.html) as a best practice so that users who are redirected to this page when attempting to access Ares content from the CMS are alerted to the fix for this issue:

1. Navigate to your Ares web directory containing the Ares web page files used to display content within your CMS:

   Your Ares web page configuration may vary from the defaults described below. Please contact your Ares administrator if your need assistance locating your web page files.
   • If you are using the Ares standard default web pages to display Ares content within your CMS, these may be located either in GitHub (if you are Atlas-hosted) in an "Ares" directory folder or at the default location on the Ares server if your web pages are not in GitHub: C:\Ares\Web\WebPages\
   • If you are using the Ares LMS web pages instead of the default web pages to display Ares content within your CMS, these pages may be located in GitHub (if you are Atlas-hosted) in an "AresLMS" directory folder or at the default location on the Ares server if your web page files are not in GitHub: C:\Ares\Web\WebPages\LMSWeb
2. Locate the GLogon2.html file and open it in the GitHub editor (if your web page files are located in GitHub) or in a text editing application such as Notepad++ (if your web page files are located elsewhere on the Ares server) 
3. Add the text for the notice to the code for the web page. You may consider adding it directly underneath the page header and above the username/password fields, for example:

   <fieldset>
   <h1 tabindex="0">Ares Logon</h1>
   <legend class="offscreen">Ares Logon</legend>
   
   <p><strong>Notice:</strong> If you are seeing this page when 
   attempting to access course content in Canvas/Brightspace/etc., 
   please attempt to resolve the issue by allowing cross-site tracking 
   within your web browser's privacy settings. Google Chrome users must 
   enable third-party cookies in Incognito mode to access course content 
   in private browsing windows.</p>
   
   <label for="username">
   <strong>
   <span class="req">*</span>
   <span>Username:</span>
   </strong>
   <input id="username" name="username" type="text" class="f-name" /><br />
   </label>

4. If you have copied the code above, please ensure that you modify the notice text to use the exact wording you would like to have displayed to your users who are experiencing issues
5. Save your changes. The notice will now appear on the Ares logon web page