Preferences
The Preferences tab in the Account Hub is where you tune the visual feel of AxisSynapse: theme, color contrast, density, motion, and locale. Every choice here replicates to every device you sign in on, so the workspace looks the same on your laptop and your phone. Nothing in this tab is workspace-administered — these are your choices, not the workspace's.
TL;DR — Open Account → Preferences. Pick theme (light / dark / system), increase contrast if you want AAA, pick density (Comfortable / Compact), tune reduced motion, pick a locale. Save.
Theme
The visual mode of the chrome and the content.
| Field | What it does | Accepted values / default |
|---|---|---|
| System (default) | Tracks the operating system's appearance setting. | Live: a switch in System Preferences flips AxisSynapse without a reload. |
| Light | Force light mode. | Ignores OS. |
| Dark | Force dark mode. | Ignores OS. Honors workspace branding's dark logo if configured. |
Color contrast
| Field | What it does | Accepted values / default |
|---|---|---|
| Default (AA) | The standard token palette. | Body text ≥ 7:1; secondary ≥ 4.5:1; focus ≥ 3:1. |
| Increased (AAA) | Swaps tokens for the AAA-conformant palette. | Useful on glare-prone screens or with low-vision needs. |
Density
| Field | What it does | Accepted values / default |
|---|---|---|
| Comfortable (default) | Generous spacing across tables, rails, forms. | Recommended on laptops + tablets. |
| Compact | Tighter spacing for power users on wide screens. | Still meets AA tap-target sizes (44 × 44 px on touch). |
Reduced motion
| Field | What it does | Accepted values / default |
|---|---|---|
| System (default) | Honors the operating system's prefers-reduced-motion setting. | Most users leave this alone. |
| Off | Force the full motion experience even if the OS asks for reduced. | Rare; useful only for QA. |
| On | Force reduced motion regardless of OS. | Useful on devices where the OS setting is unreliable. |
Locale
The language and formatting AxisSynapse uses for chrome strings. Seven first-class locales are fully translated; long-tail locales fall back to English with a "translated" badge as content arrives.
| Field | What it does | Accepted values / default |
|---|---|---|
| en-US (default) | American English. | Numeric: 1,234.56. Date: 06/02/2026. |
| en-GB | British English. | Numeric: 1,234.56. Date: 02/06/2026. |
| fr-FR | French (France). | Numeric: 1 234,56. Date: 02/06/2026. |
| fr-CA | French (Canada). | Numeric: 1 234,56. Date: 2026-06-02. Falls back to fr-FR for missing strings. |
| es-ES | Spanish (Spain). | Numeric: 1.234,56. Date: 02/06/2026. |
| de-DE | German (Germany). | Numeric: 1.234,56. Date: 02.06.2026. |
| pt-BR | Portuguese (Brazil). | Numeric: 1.234,56. Date: 02/06/2026. |
Every field, explained
| Field | What it does | Accepted values / default |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | Light / Dark / System. | Default System. |
| Color contrast | AA / AAA. | Default AA. |
| Density | Comfortable / Compact. | Default Comfortable. |
| Reduced motion | System / Off / On. | Default System. |
| Locale | Chrome language + date / number formatting. | Default en-US. |
| Time format | 12-hour / 24-hour. | Default follows the locale (12h for en-US, 24h elsewhere). |
| First day of week | What the calendar shows as column 1. | Default follows the locale (Sunday for en-US, Monday elsewhere). |
| Number format override | Override the locale-derived numeric separators. | Auto (default) / explicit choice from the supported separator pairs. |
What appears in the audit log
ACCOUNT_PREFERENCES_UPDATE— recorded on every preference save. The line carries the before-and-after for each changed field. The per-user audit feed at Account → Audit shows the full history.
Common gotchas
- "My theme keeps flipping to light after a reload." You're on System and your OS is set to switch theme on a schedule. Either pick a forced theme or update the OS schedule.
- "Long-tail locales aren't translating UI strings." That's expected today — only the seven first-class locales are fully translated. AxisSynapse falls back to English with a "translated" badge to make the gap visible.
- "Increased contrast washed out the workspace logo." The contrast change affects tokens, not assets. If the workspace logo becomes hard to read, ask your admin to upload a higher-contrast variant.
- "My preferences didn't replicate to my phone." Replication is per-user-per-account; sign in on the phone and the latest preferences pull on first request. If they don't, hard reload.
Troubleshooting
| Error code | What it means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| PREFERENCES_LOCALE_UNSUPPORTED | A locale code outside the supported list was submitted. | Pick a supported locale. |
| PREFERENCES_INVALID_VALUE | A non-enum value was submitted for a categorical field. | Pick from the dropdown. |
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