Preference Family Functionality

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Definitions
Lead preference

The preference which controls the availability of a group of dependent preferences.

  • in the case of a preference family with an ON/OFF toggle, the lead preference defines the family (e.g. Speak Text is the lead preference and the family)

    • in this case there will never be more than one lead preference in a family

  • in the case of a preference family with no ON/OFF toggle, there may be more than one lead preference
    • in this case preferences will be grouped according to their lead preferences
  • note that the availability of preferences may also depend on the device or application currently in use
Dependent preferences

Preferences within a family, whose availability depends on the state of the lead preference.

Primary preferences 

Preferences which appear first in the family container creating multiple preference family views, for example:

  • curated based on critical or most common preferences

  • inferred based on user behaviour (e.g. frequent adjustments made to certain preferences)
  • in the case of search results, primary preferences are matched to the search terms entered, such that only the preferences relevant to the search term are displayed (see Tags Functionality)

Functionality
Preference family with ON/OFF toggle

 Lead adjuster ON/OFF toggle action:

  • default state is ON or OFF

  • when turned off, family is collapsed down to lead preference/adjuster only

  • indicates how to make non-available preferences available

  • affords ease of use (allows user to maintain adjustments of dependent preferences, but family can be turned on and off quickly when desired)

Preference family with no ON/OFF toggle

 Lead adjuster selection action:

  • default state depends on associated application
  • adjustment affects availability of dependent preferences
  • unavailable preferences are greyed out (no collapse)
  • pop-up tip could inform user how to make unavailable options available
Preference family views

Preference families with a large number of adjusters have a collapsed view with a few primary adjusters. Preference families can have multiple partial views, for example:

1  Curated primary preferences in the ‘my preferences’ view.  View can be expanded to see more preferences in the family. 

2 User behaviour-based primary adjusters in ‘my preferences’ tab. As the user interacts with the adjusters, the primary adjusters change to reflect their needs (e.g. after multiple tweaks to 'screen reader follows', this becomes the primary adjuster in the Speak Text family).

3 Search-based primary adjusters in the ‘all preferences’ view. Search results display the preferences most relevant to the search term (e.g. when searching for "French", the language preference in the Speak Text family becomes primary)

4 Primary adjusters without 'more' options in the PCP. 

5 Family where some adjusters/interface elements are not relevant to the context (e.g. preview windows are removed where changes can be applied live)

Grouping of families into categories

Families may appear in more than one category. 

E.g. the Vibration preference family appears in both the "visuals and alternatives" category as well as the "mobile only" category.