Enhancing Browser Legend: Persistent Settings

Are you tired of losing your carefully crafted legend customizations every time you switch features in your browser? This article dives into a feature request aimed at solving this exact problem: browser-level persistence for legend settings. We'll explore the need for this feature, the proposed solution, its requirements, and the benefits it offers users. Get ready to learn how to keep your legend settings exactly how you like them, throughout your browsing session!

The Problem: Losing Customizations

Currently, users experience a frustrating issue: legend customizations are not retained when navigating between different features. Imagine spending valuable time reordering legend items, extracting categories from "Other," or toggling visibility to create the perfect visualization. Then, when you switch to another feature and return, all your hard work is gone. This lack of persistence disrupts workflow and hinders the user experience. The current system forces users to repeatedly reconfigure their legends, which is time-consuming and inefficient. This limitation becomes particularly noticeable when users work with multiple features, each requiring unique legend configurations. The absence of persistent settings creates a significant usability barrier, impacting user satisfaction. This is a common pain point for users who rely on the platform for data analysis and visualization. Users need a system that remembers their preferences, allowing them to focus on their analysis rather than constant reconfiguration. The need for persistent legend settings is clear: to enhance user productivity and streamline the workflow. It's time to elevate the user experience by implementing a more intuitive and user-friendly system.

Why Persistence Matters

Persistent legend settings are crucial for several reasons. Firstly, they improve user efficiency. Users no longer have to waste time reconfiguring their legends every time they switch features. Secondly, persistence enhances user satisfaction. Knowing that their customizations are saved fosters a sense of control and empowerment. Finally, persistent settings support a more seamless workflow. Users can effortlessly navigate between features, knowing their preferences are preserved.

The Solution: In-Memory Persistence

The proposed solution involves implementing in-memory persistence of legend customizations on a per-feature basis. This means that when a user modifies the legend settings for a specific feature, those changes are stored within the browser's memory and retained when the user switches between features and returns to the original one within the same session. This approach provides a balance between ease of implementation and functionality, ensuring that customizations are preserved without complex storage mechanisms.

How It Works

When a user interacts with the legend, the system will track changes to various settings, including legend order, point size, the maximum number of items, extracted items, and toggled labels. These settings will be stored independently for each feature. When a user switches to a different feature, the system will save the current feature's settings and load the settings for the new feature. Returning to the original feature will restore its saved settings, allowing the user to seamlessly pick up where they left off. This method of storage ensures that each feature retains its unique legend configuration. The use of in-memory storage provides a responsive and efficient experience, as there is no need to interact with external storage on every change. This leads to a faster and more intuitive user experience. The system's design ensures that users can easily manage and switch between different feature visualizations without losing their preferred settings. The core idea is to remember the user's choices, providing a tailored and productive experience.

Requirements for Implementation

Implementing this feature requires careful consideration of several key elements to ensure it functions correctly and meets user expectations. These include the specific settings to be persisted, the functional aspects of the implementation, and any necessary user interface changes. This ensures that the system is both functional and user-friendly.

Settings to Persist

The following settings will be stored independently for each feature:

• legendOrder: An array of category names, defining the display order. Default: Sorted by frequency (descending).
• shapeSize: The point size for the feature's visualization. Default: Global default (e.g., 6).
• maxLegendItems: The maximum number of items to display before the "Other" category is introduced. Default: 10.
• extractedItems: Categories extracted from the "Other" category. Default: [].
• toggledLabels: A map of category to visibility state (true/false). Default: All true (visible).

Functional Requirements

To ensure the system works as intended, the following functional requirements must be met:

• FR-1: Unconfigured features should use default settings.
• FR-2: Legend settings must be stored per feature.
• FR-3: Settings should be restored when switching back to a previously configured feature.
• FR-4: Settings should persist for the duration of the browser session.
• FR-5: A