Owl-Listener

preference-audit

"Audit an existing interface for respect of user preferences including motion, contrast, colour scheme, and text scaling. Chains: user-preference-respect, responsive-accessibility, colour-independence. Use when reviewing an existing product for adaptive behaviour."

Owl-Listener 107 26 Updated 7mo ago
GitHub

Install

npx skillscat add owl-listener/inclusive-design-skills/preference-audit

Install via the SkillsCat registry.

SKILL.md

User Preference Audit

Test whether an existing interface correctly detects and responds to
user preferences — the accessibility settings people have deliberately
chosen.

Process

Step 1: Test Motion Preferences

Using user-preference-respect, enable prefers-reduced-motion and
navigate the entire interface. Document:

  • Animations that continue playing
  • Transitions that still slide or fade
  • Parallax effects that remain active
  • Autoplay video or carousels that don't stop
  • Any motion that serves no functional purpose

Step 2: Test Contrast and Colour Preferences

Enable prefers-contrast (more) and forced-colors mode. Using
user-preference-respect and colour-independence, document:

  • Elements that become invisible or indistinguishable
  • Focus indicators that disappear
  • Interactive elements that lose their borders
  • Colour-only status indicators that become meaningless
  • Charts or visualisations that become unreadable

Step 3: Test Colour Scheme

Switch between light and dark modes. Document:

  • Content that becomes illegible in one mode
  • Images or icons that don't adapt
  • Hardcoded colours that clash with the theme
  • Contrast failures specific to one mode

Step 4: Test Text Scaling and Zoom

Using responsive-accessibility, test at 200% browser zoom
and with system font size at maximum. Document:

  • Text that overflows or gets clipped
  • Layouts that break or overlap
  • Horizontal scrolling that appears
  • Fixed-height containers that truncate content
  • Interactive elements that become unreachable

Step 5: Test Combinations

Test realistic combinations:

  • Dark mode + high contrast + reduced motion
  • 200% zoom + large system font
  • Forced colours + reduced motion

Document any failures that only appear in combination.

Output

Deliver an audit report:

  1. Summary — which preferences are respected, which are ignored
  2. Preference-by-preference findings — specific failures for each
  3. Combination failures — issues that appear only when multiple
    preferences are active
  4. Fix list — prioritised by severity and number of users affected

Severity definitions:

  • Critical — preference is completely ignored, causing harm or
    blocking access
  • Major — preference is partially respected, significant gaps remain
  • Minor — preference is mostly respected, edge cases need fixing