Questions tagged [settings]
a setting affects system function and performance.
154
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Who needs an external on/off Wi-Fi button?
It puzzles me that there are Laptops which are shipped with external physical Wi-Fi buttons. I see no real use of it, but it might have a historical explanation?! The only time one notice the external ...
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Why is the settings icon either associated with gears or a wrench + screwdriver
I was wondering what the association between gears and settings is because the symbolism/iconography is not clear to me. I can see that in the old days people might have used the wrench or screwdriver ...
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Gear icon vs. ellipsis (3 dots)
I always see these icons on settings or data tables. Can both icons have the same value or meaning? Is it a trend or standard?
Gear icon:
Ellipsis:
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What's a good way to display settings that can be configured from both "directions"?
For a part of configuration, we need to allow the user to get a quick overview AND the ability to quickly set user-groups and their permissions, from both directions.
Meaning:
The user should be able ...
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4
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What do you call a GUI widget that slides out from the left or right?
In mobile applications, many times you have the main content taking up the entire screen but there is a settings page also. To reach the settings page you can to put your finger on the left or right ...
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Email confirmation on password reset?
I am building a prototype to a system that has a user account system in place. Of course with any account system, the user should be able to reset their password should the need arise (e.g., ...
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2
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Setting vs Settings? Which one makes more sense in a dropdown button
This button should do what it looks like it should do. It opens a drop down of actions that a user can perform on their user account. Should I go with "Setting" or "Settings"?
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How do you show a locked slider?
I have an application with a slider, but I need to be able to lock the slider, and have it clear to the user that it is locked - simply disabling it is not an option. By locked I mean that you are ...
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What voice should an option you don't want users to change be written in?
We have a form with a bunch of options that impact how our service will work for a given account. Most of them are positively-voiced questions ("Allow this to happen?"). There is one option that ...
10
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3
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How do I explain that some settings save automatically, while others need to be manually saved?
I have an interface that looks like this:
The top three fields (Friendly name, Unique TrackerID and URL Endpoint) all need to be saved for the changes to apply and can be discarded by clicking "Go ...
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2
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Designing a large user preferences menu that isn't confusing
My app helps pianists to practise their scales. They press a button and are shown a random scale to play. They press the button again and they get another.
I need to allow users to "turn-off" scales, ...
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9
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What to do when your application has an "unmanageable" number of settings?
I like how Google's Material Design approaches patterns for application settings:
Settings should be well-organized, predictable, and contain a manageable number of options (emphasis added).
The ...
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9
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4
answers
381
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How to handle settings which can be both set mechanically and via a computer?
I develop a device, which can be configured via a handful of binary settings. These can be set with mechanical switches (of course, internally they are evaluated electronically)
However, optionally, ...
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5
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How to visually indicate a change in setting
Suppose I have a settings screen where I have a table with a bunch of rows with checkboxes.
For example the default settings are:
| Name | Setting |
| A | on |
| B | off |
Then the ...
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votes
3
answers
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Should hourly email notification accumulate all the notification from past hours?
I am designing an email notification setting for an ERP.
Based on the image above:
User selected the 'Hourly' option for email notification.
In the first hour away from the system, the user gets 3 ...
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7
votes
6
answers
559
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How to make a long list of settings less overwhelming
We are working on a fairly complex B2B app. It's been in active development for many years and as a result, we've ended up with a bunch of settings that we have to present in the admin panel. It looks ...
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Having settings in edit mode across multiple tabs - confusing?
I'm trying to make an area where users view/edit the info for their customers less confusing.
The current arrangement (which I've inherited) is below. The user clicks an "edit" button and the fields ...
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5
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Is it normal for users to ask for more detail than should really be implemented?
I just released my first ever application into the world and asked for feedback. I was surprised by the feedback, because the users are asking for a lot of detail. They seem to want a user interface ...
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Which is the more common term used: Preferences or Settings?
Given that preferences and settings are roughly equatable to users of websites, it seems the more commonly used term would be preferable for the sake of being more readily understood. I haven't been ...
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2
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551
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When is the appropriate time to use the "i" icon in an app?
I am currently debating if:
The "i" icon should only be used when the target page\view only displays additional information. (help text, credits, about, terms & conditions, etc.)
The "i" icon can ...
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What's the difference between "account" and "profile"?
On many websites you have a settings section where you can view and edit your profile data. On others you can edit your account data. Some sites even have both.
What is the difference between "...
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3
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How to inform user that settings are in localstorage, and apply to this browser only?
I have a settings page in this web app where a user can configure the categories of notifications that they want to show or hide.
How can I inform the user that these settings are not global (i.e. ...
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Internal or external settings window?
I'm designing the settings/preferences area on a hobby project in java.
What is the best way to allow users to edit settings and why?
My main considerations are:
New window with it's own symbol on '...
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374
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Grouping unrelated settings
I'm setting up some options/settings pages for a wordpress theme. There are a lot of options and I think splitting them up will help navigating the different controls. I'm thinking of splitting the ...
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3
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Should expandable options lengthen the page or should space be left for them?
I'm working on a settings type page in a web portal.
Most of the options are pretty simple, so the sections are pretty small (I'd post a pic if I had the reputation required), but I have advanced ...
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votes
1
answer
3k
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Changing password in user settings. Best method
I'm trying to think of the 'best' way for a user to change its password along with its user settings(Like name, e-mail etc.)
I've got a form like this:
Name: [text input]
E-mailaddress: [text input]
...
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5
votes
1
answer
479
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What is the accepted best practice for asking for permission to send a user email?
When a user is setting up their profile in my web app, I want them to act on 2 different email settings:
1) Permission to email when another user interacts with them (for example, sends them a ...
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2
answers
4k
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Why colors are set to high saturated in most smarphones?
From the very first time of buying android smartphones, we see those colors which are less realistic. Only few percentage of people change it by going deep level down inside settings.
Why it is set ...
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Is it better to remove a user's preferences after they log out?
We have some preferences for our mobile application that a user can change (such as choosing between miles and kilometers for distance information). We plan to store these preferences as unique to a ...
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4
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Should the "Send anonymous usage statistics" checkbox be enabled by default?
If you have a "Send anonymous usage statistics" checkbox in your application, should it be enabled by default or not? If you have it enabled by default, you will probably get more statistics, but some ...
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3
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Connecting to WLAN (WiFi) without screen
We were discussing hardware engineering and creating a device which relies on a WiFi connection but does not feature a screen.
The challenge is to allow a user to set up a device which does not have ...
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2
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383
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Do users need 3 ways to change sound volume on their computer?
Virtually every video/audio software has volume controls. Why is software control needed if there exist two other controls: operating system and hardware volume controls?
Is it better to remove ...
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4
votes
6
answers
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If a user does not want my application to use his title, should I give him a checkbox for this setting?
I am creating a software which will be used by scientists. There are two places where names will be used: first, in personal greetings ("You are logged in as Rosalind Frnklin"), and second, in user-...
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2
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User access level grid - idea for gui
In my software application, multiple users can be created and every user belongs to a single Department.
Users can add tasks to other departments. For example, the accounting department can add a new ...
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3
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247
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Settings dialog with multiple tabs: same options on two different tabs?
I am designing a settings dialog with multiple tabs for our desktop application. There is a particular (small) group of options that is applicable to two separate tabs in the settings dialog. I ...
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4
votes
1
answer
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Most intuitive settings icon [closed]
I'm designing a user interface for a WPF app. I was wondering which icon is the most intuitive to represent a Settings section. In my experience a single/multiple cog wheels seems to be the most ...
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4
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1
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Columns in a table - settings buttons position
I am building a screen for a rather big platform and I am trying to figure the best position for settings buttons for a column in a table.
The table holds information about players and their ...
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1
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349
views
Should I hide settings behind a settings menu or allow the user to edit inline?
Currently I have a page with settings inline with the information the user is looking for:
However, it makes the rows cluttered:
I was thinking about moving them all out to a separate settings menu:
...
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3
votes
3
answers
377
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Usability - Testing Windows applications under different settings
I'm testing a Windows application for usability. While I thought the application looked pretty usable at first, I tried the application using the "Large text" setting in Windows 7 and realised that ...
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2
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Should 'site default' be an option in a select list?
An example: a user can choose the number of items per page when pagination is used. The choices could be predefined or free to choose.
Should I provide an option like 'site default (10)', noting that ...
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3
votes
3
answers
540
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Should user account and profile be the same page?
I am currently researching into user account pages. But the needs for the company includes components that would also associate to a user profile page (i.e more visible information, tailored content ...
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votes
2
answers
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Should the user be given an option to turn off confirmations?
Should users be given an option to turn off the confirmations across the whole website? An example could be to add a checkbox under user settings that turns the confirmations on and off for actions ...
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2
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How to allow editing while still being disabled?
I'm currently working on settings for a tool that sits on top of client websites (something similar to Intercom chat). The settings are presented as a list of "cards" similar to the example ...
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1
answer
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How to deal with a lot (250+) of settings?
I'm currently working on an Android application that has a lot of (over 250) individual settings. During most of the app's existence there was no designer working on it, so the settings UI is mostly (...
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How to display multiple options for settings page using icons?
Question
For a mobile app, how should we display multiple options (say, 20 options are available) in a settings page using icons?
Example:
Fig.1: All Options in One Screen Activity.
All options ...
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2
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589
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Design settings page for wide layout?
My web app has a settings page.
It's pretty normal: some broad categories on the left, then pairs of option-name - option-value settings on the main right-hand section. Works OK.
However, on a full-...
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1
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378
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Managing Checkboxes for Dependent Settings
I don't do much GUI design. I am working on an application and helping to define some requirements for a user preferences dialog. Some of the settings are boolean values that can be determined by a ...
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1
answer
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What is the best practice for a web app with "Change language" on front and back
We have a webapp with a front/presentation/landing page. On this page it is possible to change language and, for already registered users, to login to the secure area.
Now we have a "Change language" ...
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2
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Is it ok to hide the full settings until initial onboarding steps are complete?
We have a product with a bunch of available settings but only a couple are actually required to get started. To simplify things, I was going to hide all these settings behind a banner that drives the ...
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1
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Portable input device, best practices for setup
We're working on a mobile 3D scanning device. The device is small handheld device, about the size of a gopro camera. The device has no display or other controls. The idea is that the user connects the ...
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