5 Setting Your Personal Preferences

This chapter describes your personal preferences, which provide easy configuration settings for tailoring the application to your particular working style. These include settings for your preferred application display language; your preferred application look and feel; your WebCenter Portal password; and the like. Additionally, WebCenter Portal preferences provide an accessibility setting to optimize the application user interface for use with a screen reader, such as JAWS. Preferences settings are a user-level customization that affect only your view of WebCenter Portal.

This chapter includes the following topics:

• Accessing the Preferences Pages

• Choosing Your Preferred Display Language

• Setting Date and Time Preferences

• Setting Your Accessibility Options

• Changing the Look and Feel of Your View

• Changing Your Application Password

• Providing Login Information for External Applications

Permissions

The tasks described in this chapter are available to any WebCenter Portal user.

See Also:

Preferences associated with specific areas of WebCenter Portal are discussed in the chapters that cover each area.

For information about Messaging, Subscription, and Notifications preferences, see:

• Establishing and Managing Your Messaging Channels and Filters

• Subscribing to the Application, to Portals, and to Objects

• Viewing and Cancelling Your Subscriptions

For information about People Connections preferences, see:

• Setting Profile Preferences

• Setting Connections Preferences

• Setting Feedback Preferences

• Setting Message Preferences

• Setting Activity Stream Preferences

For information about Instant Messaging and Presence preferences, see Identifying Your Preferred Instant Messaging Provider.

For information about Search preferences, see Setting Individual Preferences for Search Results.

For information about Mail preferences, see Selecting Your Preferred Mail Connection.

5.1 Accessing the Preferences Pages

To access the pages of your personal preferences:

• From your user menu in the menu bar, select Preferences (Figure 5-1) to open Preferences on the General page (Figure 5-2).

  Figure 5-1 Accessing Preferences

  
  Description of "Figure 5-1 Accessing Preferences"

  Figure 5-2 Preferences - General Page

  
  Description of "Figure 5-2 Preferences - General Page"

5.2 Choosing Your Preferred Display Language

The display language controls the language for user interface (UI) elements in your browser. UI elements include button and field labels, application links, screen text, and so on. The display language also provides options for identifying the current locale, which determines symbols, such as monetary symbols, and reading direction for UI text.

To set a display language:

1. From your user menu, select Preferences.(Figure 5-1).
2. On the General page (Figure 5-2), from the Language drop-down list, select your preferred display language locale.

   Alternatively, select No Preference to accept the application-level default set by your system administrator.

   Your change is applied immediately, and the page refreshes in the selected language.

Note:

You can also set a display language on the Welcome page before you log in. Select a language in the language switcher (Figure 5-3).

Figure 5-3 Language Switcher on Welcome Page

Description of "Figure 5-3 Language Switcher on Welcome Page"

5.3 Setting Date and Time Preferences

Use date and time preferences to specify your preferred date and time formats and your current locale's time zone:

Note:

Some content may be developed with an intrinsic time display format. In such cases, this content is not influenced by your date and time format selections.

To set your preferred time format, date format, and time zone:

1. From your user menu in the menu bar, select Preferences.(Figure 5-1).
2. On the General page (Figure 5-2), set your date and time preferences.

   Table 5-1 describes the available date and time options.

   Table 5-1 Date and Time Preference Settings

   Preference	Description
   Time Format	Select your preferred time format. The formats in the list show the current time. Note: The available time formats depend on the locale selected in the Language list or by your browser locale. For example, if you select English-United Kingdom [en-GB], the AM/PM is not included in the time format. No Preference—To display the default Time Format established by your system administrator H:M AM/PM—To display hour, minutes, and AM or PM, such as 4:47 PM H:M:S AM/PM—To display hour, minutes, seconds, and AM or PM, such as 4:47:52 PM H:M:S AM/PM Time Zone—To display hour, minutes, seconds, AM or PM, and the abbreviation of the specified time zone, such as 4:47:52 PM PDT H:M:S o'clock Time Zone—(Not available for all locales.) To display hour, minutes, seconds, "o'clock", and the abbreviation of the specified time zone, such as 4:47:52 o'clock PDT
   Date Format	Select your preferred date format. The formats in the list show the current date. Note: The available date formats depend on the locale selected in the Language list or by your browser locale. For example, if you select English-United Kingdom [en-GB], the dates are listed in day, month, year order. No Preference—To use the default date format set by your system administrator M/D/YY—To use a number format, such as 4/21/09 MON D, YYYY—To use an abbreviation format and the full year, such as Apr 21, 2009 MONTH D, YYYY—To display the full month name and the full year, such as Apr 21, 2009 DAY, MONTH D, YYYY—To display the full month name, the full year, and include the day of the week, such as Tuesday, April 21, 2009
   Time Zone	Select your preferred time zone. Alternatively select No Preference to accept the application-level default set by your system administrator.

   Your change is applied immediately.

5.4 Setting Your Accessibility Options

Use accessibility options to optimize the application user interface (UI) for use with a screen reader, such as JAWS; to enable support of high-contrast colors; and to enable support for large fonts.

This section includes the following topics:

• About Application Accessibility Options

• Applying Accessibility Options

5.4.1 About Application Accessibility Options

WebCenter Portal accessibility options appear on the General panel of the Preferences page. Accessibility options assist visually and non-visually impaired users in navigating the application user interface.

This topic discusses things you should know about WebCenter Portal accessibility options. It includes the following topics:

• Submenu Items

• Unlabeled UI Objects

• Add Resources

The next topic, Applying Accessibility Options, describes how to apply WebCenter Portal accessibility options.

Note:

The color contrast of disabled actions—which are gray—against a white screen may be difficult to discern for some users. Because disabled actions are not selectable, this issue does not affect the use of WebCenter Portal.

5.4.1.1 Submenu Items

If you use a screen reader such as JAWS, JAWS normally announces the links associated with a menu selection. With the Actions menu, JAWS does not announce the submenu items. For example, JAWS does not read the submenu items under Manage on the Actions menu. The workaround is to select the menu items using direct keyboard navigation. That is, instead of using JAWS Links Chooser, navigate to the Manage submenu of the Actions menu using the Tab key on your keyboard.

5.4.1.2 Unlabeled UI Objects

Not all drop-down menus, fields, and radio buttons on WebCenter Portal administration pages are labeled. As a result, the JAWS screen reader renders a pound sign (#) instead of a label when the JAWS command Insert-F7 is invoked. The problem occurs in the following areas:

• Drop-down menus in portal administration pages

• Radio buttons on portal administration pages

• Fields on the Documents page

The workaround is to use the Tab and arrow keys to navigate to each individual form field in order to hear each form field read.

5.4.1.3 Add Resources

When you add resources from the resource catalog, JAWS announces all resource catalog items as Add. This makes it difficult to identify the selected resource. To work around this issue, press the Tab key to get to the Add link for the resource, then press the Down Arrow key. JAWS then reads the description of the resource.

5.4.2 Applying Accessibility Options

To apply accessibility options to the application UI:

1. From your user menu in the menu bar, select Preferences (Figure 5-1).
2. On the General page (Figure 5-2), select your preferred Accessibility Settings:

   • I use a screen reader—Specifically for visually impaired users, enables the use of JAWS, the screen reader software.

   • I use high contrast colors—Makes the WebCenter Portal user interface compatible with operating systems or browsers that have high-contrast features enabled. For example, WebCenter Portal changes its use of background images and CSS styles in high-contrast mode to prevent the loss of visual information.

     Note:

     High-contrast mode is more beneficial if used in conjunction with your browser's or operating system's high-contrast mode. Also, some users might find it beneficial to use large-font mode along with high-contrast mode.

     The color contrast of disabled actions—which are gray—against a white screen may be difficult to discern for some users. Because disabled actions are not selectable, this issue does not affect the use of WebCenter Portal.

   • I use large fonts—Provides browser-zoom-friendly content. In default mode, most text and many containers have a fixed font size to provide a consistent and defined look. In large-font mode, text and containers are more scalable. This allows WebCenter Portal to be compatible with browsers that are set to larger font sizes and to work with browser-zoom capabilities.

     Note:

     If you are not using large-font mode or browser-zoom capabilities, you should disable large-font mode. Also, some users might find it beneficial to use high-contrast mode along with the large-font mode.

   Your changes are applied immediately.

5.5 Changing the Look and Feel of Your View

Use application skins to change the look and feel of your view of the Home portal. Application skins specify the application background color, screen fonts, and, with some skins, the shapes and images used for application buttons and icons. The skin you select through Preferences affects only the look and feel of your view of the Home portal. No other users' views and no other areas of the application are affected.

To change the Home portal skin in your view:

1. From your user menu in the menu bar, select Preferences (Figure 5-1).
2. On the General page (Figure 5-2), select your preferred Application Skin:

   • No Preference—To defer to the application's configured skin setting

   • Skin_Name—To select a predefined application skin from the list of skins available to you

     Note:

     The available skins are determined by your system administrator.

   Your change is applied immediately. Go to the Home portal to see the selected skin.

5.6 Changing Your Application Password

Provided your system administrator has enabled you to do so, you can change your WebCenter Portal password. Changing your password on a regular basis is one way you can participate directly in securing your application software.

To change your WebCenter Portal password:

1. From your user menu in the menu bar, select Preferences (Figure 5-1).
2. On the Password page (Figure 5-4), in the Old Password field, enter your current password.

   Figure 5-4 Preferences - Password Page

   
   Description of "Figure 5-4 Preferences - Password Page"
3. In the New Password field, enter your new password.

   Note:

   The requirements for this password are driven by the identity store that manages WebCenter Portal application users. Every ID store has its own password policy that enforces rules such as password length, password history, and so on. If you have issues setting a new password, contact your system administrator for the password requirements and restrictions of your ID store.

4. In the Confirm New Password field, enter your new password again.
5. Click Save to save your change.

5.7 Providing Login Information for External Applications

The My Accounts page enables you to provide login credentials for all external applications that are configured to be accessed through WebCenter Portal. After you have provided your credentials, every time you access an external application within WebCenter Portal, the login credentials are provided automatically. This gives you a single-sign-on type of experience where one login (to WebCenter Portal) provides access to multiple applications.

Note:

If you change the login credentials for an application, you must enter them again into the My Accounts page as described in this section.

To provide login credentials for external applications:

1. From your user menu in the menu bar, select Preferences (see Accessing the Preferences Pages).
2. On the My Accounts page (Figure 5-5), select an application from the list.

   Figure 5-5 Preferences - My Accounts Page

   
   Description of "Figure 5-5 Preferences - My Accounts Page"
3. Enter login credentials as required for the selected application.

   Login credential fields and check boxes for the selected application are shown in the right pane. Fields requiring values are marked with an asterisk (*).

   Tip:

   The applications you see on the My Accounts page are those that were configured by your system administrator. Contact your system administrator to request additional applications.

   Note:

   Login credentials vary from one application to another. For example, some applications may require user name and password, while others may require those values along with additional values, such as your mail address.

4. Select Remember My Login Information to enable automatic authentication to the selected application every time you log in to WebCenter Portal.

   Note:

   If you do not select Remember My Login Information, the login information that you enter is used only for the current user session. This means the next time you log in to WebCenter Portal, you must also log in to this application.

5. Click Apply to save your change.