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As you know the likes SSL enabled websites is on the increase, mainly because Google is now rewarding sites for being safer to use. Users can view a sites SSL certificate by clicking the secure icon in the address bar, the problem with this is many consumers are unaware what it means, never mind its clickable.

Many sites will use SSL seals on the website which customers are more likely going to understand what it means, rather than a tiny pad lock in the address bar. In my opinion a trust seal should be clickable and bring up information for users, which brings me to the question!

As we have the likes of href="tel:", href="mailto:" and href="fax:" which trigger operating system associated applications...

Question(s):

  • Does any href exist for viewing the SSL of a site exist, or in draft?
  • Is there any known methods asides PHP?

The idea is to allow users to view the SSL Cert from within the browser without having to click the secure icon next to the address. I know this can be done by copying the text and manually importing it into HTML, or use PHP to get the job done, but hoping there is an easier solution.

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  • While I agree that many consumers are unaware, training them to rely on certificates displayed on the page would be an exceptionally bad idea. This would be abused even more widely than the silly pictures of padlocks on websites (some used on plain HTTP pages with HTTP form submit!) and this requirement for displaying certs in the browser chrome itself is by design. What is needed is user education, not extra stuff cluttering the page. You can accomplish this with a short message telling users to click the padlock in the address bar to verify connection security - or note when it is absent.
    – Tom Brossman
    Jun 5 '16 at 5:45
  • I think it would be useful to create a Uniform Resource Citation (URC) for SSL certificates. URCs point to meta data about a URL rather than to the URL itself. There is a similar URC for viewing the page source: view-source:http://example.com/. I don't believe that any browser has a similar mechanism for SSL certificates.
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Jun 14 '16 at 11:46
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Not possible unfortunately. The SSL viewer is a native feature of the browser and can not be triggered using a href or in any other way from the page. The site seals you are talking about generally link to another provider which shows the confirmed owner details of the site and that the site is trusted but it is not bringing up SSL information rather it is bringing up site details from the site seal service provider.

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Don't know if it is linkable, but on firefox at least, you can use the special url about:certificate?cert=%s where %s is a urlencoded, base64 encoded pem certificate of a website.

about:certificate?cert=MIIEvzC...

//about:certificate?cert=MIIEvzCCA6egAwIBAgISAxFEhcUTJBPnavjHG5CtuSjnMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMEoxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMRYwFAYDVQQKEw1MZXQncyBFbmNyeXB0MSMwIQYDVQQDExpMZXQncyBFbmNyeXB0IEF1dGhvcml0eSBYMzAeFw0yMDA5MjYwMDAxMDRaFw0yMDEyMjUwMDAxMDRaMB0xGzAZBgNVBAMTEnd3dy5idWdneWNvZGVyLmNvbTB2MBAGByqGSM49AgEGBSuBBAAiA2IABGrG68lfg0fP8PojljPWjgxgwG8u91ksbf%2F%2F0FB9xLcYpGRLG2%2BsCE1iGXxPuA7ivfaAI7JX3hPrtUcUQJD1gfDSVsK1NWJUa6a%2B%2F4BCdg52g4R63Aq157kozwsGzcbnMaOCAngwggJ0MA4GA1UdDwEB%2FwQEAwIHgDAdBgNVHSUEFjAUBggrBgEFBQcDAQYIKwYBBQUHAwIwDAYDVR0TAQH%2FBAIwADAdBgNVHQ4EFgQUpz37OvSvmIBR1yAvIvDfMgs%2FvO4wHwYDVR0jBBgwFoAUqEpqYwR93brm0Tm3pkVl7%2FOo7KEwbwYIKwYBBQUHAQEEYzBhMC4GCCsGAQUFBzABhiJodHRwOi8vb2NzcC5pbnQteDMubGV0c2VuY3J5cHQub3JnMC8GCCsGAQUFBzAChiNodHRwOi8vY2VydC5pbnQteDMubGV0c2VuY3J5cHQub3JnLzAtBgNVHREEJjAkgg5idWdneWNvZGVyLmNvbYISd3d3LmJ1Z2d5Y29kZXIuY29tMEwGA1UdIARFMEMwCAYGZ4EMAQIBMDcGCysGAQQBgt8TAQEBMCgwJgYIKwYBBQUHAgEWGmh0dHA6Ly9jcHMubGV0c2VuY3J5cHQub3JnMIIBBQYKKwYBBAHWeQIEAgSB9gSB8wDxAHcAXqdz%2Bd9WwOe1Nkh90EngMnqRmgyEoRIShBh1loFxRVgAAAF0x%2B2AYAAABAMASDBGAiEAyJptNY3Ee5W%2FNMgNWS5qcXnr7GW5izvnhV6ZhGBv0rACIQCk9KetSS%2FNzGLpC%2BmzNlPV9OGPWNjNSyOapVHRvWP14gB2ALIeBcyLos2KIE6HZvkruYolIGdr2vpw57JJUy3vi5BeAAABdMftgHgAAAQDAEcwRQIhAMHDZ9miwyr5fC5OqnJuMOMPVhWpZo0UgqBMi9f%2FQH%2FrAiAY6Rr98HGdj39%2Bzlrd0g8J65zGzPaBjXdN1XM3Gwff7zANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFAAOCAQEAbTtCb4xMCKn1cVL1FDoygEuXAdR7fcYy2EGjEIJB1BUu8yW%2F9KCAyq1WQMPmRz9%2Fn4J%2FU5TsbdtXk%2BOZuK8CJWYo7wPjm9AJ%2Bwx56uS6IEk782MscZ9achDxAHWesco9IM%2BYSXzDCgujX3hFF6XLj2So1FWofPNHW4nkvfnskbfcdQaaGnHpVAHhaPWvgSQgHBoLfn0KzY%2BvEtSLzHrBOorDjWZDm9st2TLjZWK1RTUwVwK3ryt5B9jMwKKu1W24%2Fq6waYFXeJCbIQH90EH056IzkX6l%2F2FS9QzPCX9qq9OX6vTc87S9lj7D6kEsAV%2BhFnK8u%2BfUHKADDJHUeS5FkQ%3D%3D&cert=MIIEkjCCA3qgAwIBAgIQCgFBQgAAAVOFc2oLheynCDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADA%2FMSQwIgYDVQQKExtEaWdpdGFsIFNpZ25hdHVyZSBUcnVzdCBDby4xFzAVBgNVBAMTDkRTVCBSb290IENBIFgzMB4XDTE2MDMxNzE2NDA0NloXDTIxMDMxNzE2NDA0NlowSjELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxFjAUBgNVBAoTDUxldCdzIEVuY3J5cHQxIzAhBgNVBAMTGkxldCdzIEVuY3J5cHQgQXV0aG9yaXR5IFgzMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAnNMM8FrlLke3cl03g7NoYzDq1zUmGSXhvb418XCSL7e4S0EFq6meNQhY7LEqxGiHC6PjdeTm86dicbp5gWAf15Gan%2FPQeGdxyGkOlZHP%2FuaZ6WA8SMx%2Byk13EiSdRxta67nsHjcAHJyse6cF6s5K671B5TaYucv9bTyWaN8jKkKQDIZ0Z8h%2FpZq4UmEUEz9l6YKHy9v6Dlb2honzhT%2BXhq%2Bw3Brvaw2VFn3EK6BlspkENnWAa6xK8xuQSXgvopZPKiAlKQTGdMDQMc2PMTiVFrqoM7hD8bEfwzB%2FonkxEz0tNvjj%2FPIzark5McWvxI0NHWQWM6r6hCm21AvA2H3DkwIDAQABo4IBfTCCAXkwEgYDVR0TAQH%2FBAgwBgEB%2FwIBADAOBgNVHQ8BAf8EBAMCAYYwfwYIKwYBBQUHAQEEczBxMDIGCCsGAQUFBzABhiZodHRwOi8vaXNyZy50cnVzdGlkLm9jc3AuaWRlbnRydXN0LmNvbTA7BggrBgEFBQcwAoYvaHR0cDovL2FwcHMuaWRlbnRydXN0LmNvbS9yb290cy9kc3Ryb290Y2F4My5wN2MwHwYDVR0jBBgwFoAUxKexpHsscfrb4UuQdf%2FEFWCFiRAwVAYDVR0gBE0wSzAIBgZngQwBAgEwPwYLKwYBBAGC3xMBAQEwMDAuBggrBgEFBQcCARYiaHR0cDovL2Nwcy5yb290LXgxLmxldHNlbmNyeXB0Lm9yZzA8BgNVHR8ENTAzMDGgL6AthitodHRwOi8vY3JsLmlkZW50cnVzdC5jb20vRFNUUk9PVENBWDNDUkwuY3JsMB0GA1UdDgQWBBSoSmpjBH3duubRObemRWXv86jsoTANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFAAOCAQEA3TPXEfNjWDjdGBX7CVW%2Bdla5cEilaUcne8IkCJLxWh9KEik3JHRRHGJouM2VcGfl96S8TihRzZvoroed6ti6WqEBmtzw3Wodatg%2BVyOeph4EYpr%2F1wXKtx8%2FwApIvJSwtmVi4MFU5aMqrSDE6ea73Mj2tcMyo5jMd6jmeWUHK8so%2FjoWUoHOUgwuX4Po1QYz%2B3dszkDqMp4fklxBwXRsW10KXzPMTZ%2BsOPAveyxindmjkW8lGy%2BQsRlGPfZ%2BG6Z6h7mjem0Y%2BiWlkYcV4PIWL1iwBi8saCbGS5jN2p8M%2BX%2BQ7UNKEkROb3N6KOqkqm57TH2H3eDJAkSnh6%2FDNFu0Qg%3D%3D

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