# Personalizing your workspace

## Personalize your workspace

Settings is where you maintain your account details. A Profile is your personal page for
information and articles; your own Profile provides access to Settings. Conduit is a social
blogging site.

| If you need to… | Go to |
| --- | --- |
| Find your personal fields and submit a change | [Update settings](doc:update-settings) |
| Decide whether to change personal details or a password | [Change your password](doc:change-your-password) |
| Leave the account | [Sign out](doc:sign-out) |
| View a profile and its posts | [View a profile](doc:view-a-profile) |

## Before you start

You must be signed in to open Settings. The route redirects an unauthenticated visitor
to `/login`.

**Prerequisites**

- Have the account whose personal details you want to maintain.
- Be signed in before opening Settings.
- To use **Edit Profile Settings**, open the profile that belongs to the signed-in account.
- To change a password, use the **New Password** field on Settings.

## Find Settings and your profile

Open your own Profile when you need the editing route.

**Prerequisites**

- Be signed in.

**Steps**

1. Open `/settings` to go directly to Settings.
2. Open your profile from the account link in the header.
3. Select **Edit Profile Settings** on your own profile.

The **Edit Profile Settings** link appears when the loaded profile belongs to the current
user. A profile that belongs to someone else shows **Follow** instead.

**Result:** You are on Settings, ready to review or change your personal details.

## Understand the Settings screen

The Settings screen contains five personal fields for your profile picture, username,
biography, email address, and new password. **New Password** has a required validator in the
form configuration; the other four controls have no configured validator.

| Field | What to enter |
| --- | --- |
| **URL of profile picture** | The URL for your profile picture |
| **Username** | Your username |
| **Short bio about you** | Your short biography |
| **Email** | Your email address |
| **New Password** | A new password |

Select **Update Settings** to submit the form. Select **Or click here to logout.** to leave
the account.

**Result:** You can identify each personal field and the action that submits or ends the session.

## Update your personal settings

Updating personal settings changes the account details used by your Profile. The form starts
with the current user's data when that data is available.

**Prerequisites**

- Be signed in and on Settings.
- Have the new profile details ready.

**Steps**

1. Enter the profile-picture address in **URL of profile picture**.
2. Enter the account name in **Username**.
3. Enter the biography in **Short bio about you**.
4. Enter the email address in **Email**.
5. Enter a new password in **New Password** when you are changing it.
6. Select **Update Settings**.

When you leave **New Password** empty, the update request omits that value. While the update
is being submitted, the form fields are disabled.

**Result:** After a successful update, the app opens the updated user's Profile.

## Choose the personal change you need

Use Settings for changes to your own account. Use a Profile to view personal information;
**Edit Profile Settings** is available when the profile is yours.

**Prerequisites**

- Be signed in.
- Know whether you are changing profile details, changing a password, or viewing another profile.

**Steps**

1. Choose the route that matches your task:

   | If you need to… | Use this route |
   | --- | --- |
   | Change your picture, username, biography, or email | Settings |
   | Change your password | **New Password** on Settings |
   | View another person's personal information | Their Profile |
   | Edit your own profile | **Edit Profile Settings** |

**Result:** You are using the personal surface that matches the change you want to make.

## When an update goes wrong

The shared error area lists returned errors. Each entry is displayed as a key followed by its
value, using the form `key value`.

| What you see | What it means | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `key value` | The page received an error entry from the operation. | Read the key and value, correct the related field, and submit **Update Settings** again. |
| `Failed to load profile` | The Profile request failed without an `errors` payload. | Return to the Profile route and try again. |

`Failed to load profile` is used when profile loading fails without an `errors` payload.

**Result:** You know where the error appears and which action to try next.

## Know what to do next

After you finish a personal-settings task, continue from the destination or choose the page
for the next account task.

**Steps**

1. Choose your next action:

   | If you need to… | Choose |
   | --- | --- |
   | Continue after a successful update | Open the updated user's Profile |
   | Complete the settings procedure | Open [Update settings](doc:update-settings) |
   | Change only the password | Open [Change your password](doc:change-your-password) |
   | Leave the account | Select **Or click here to logout.** or open [Sign out](doc:sign-out) |

**Result:** You are either on the updated Profile or at the dedicated page for your next
account task.