Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Updates

: Sticky header developments
The team has been working on building a sticky header. It will allow logged-in users to have access to important functionality (search, talk pages, history pages, language switching, and more) throughout the page. We have completed the development of the first version of the sticky header. Now, we are expecting to deploy an A/B test to the pilot wikis by the end of January. The header was based on the results of our user testing and volunteers' answers to the prototype testing.

: Language switching iteration
Earlier this year, we moved the language button to a more convenient location at the top of the page. However, the results of our A/B test indicated that the new location of the button might be difficult to discover in the following cases:


 * For users that are accustomed to the previous location of the language switching functionality
 * For users that tend to switch languages across multiple wikis. In the latter case, this created a situation where the language switching functionality was available in different locations depending on the wiki used and whether that wiki was a part of the pilot wikis.

To improve on these issues, we are changing the new language button. Our goal is to make it easier to find across all scenarios. We hope to release these improvements in January 2022.

: Prototype testing for the table of contents
Over the next few months, our main focus will be on making the table of contents persistent. Currently, the table of contents is available only at the top of the page. It is difficult to gain context on an entire article or page, or to navigate to individual sections, when outside the top of the page. We hope to make the table of contents easier to navigate through a page, as well as to understand its context.

We will be publishing our research, further documentation, and mockups, over the next few weeks. In the meantime, we welcome you to give us feedback on our current prototype on this page.

: User links menu
The user menu is now available for all users opted into Desktop Improvements. This menu makes it easier for new editors and readers to identify which links are related to their personal tools. These tools are: user page and talk page, watchlist, etc. It also allows for visual cohesion at the top of our pages.

We are monitoring how the change impacts the number of clicks to these links. Based on the results, we may decide to improve the menu. In addition, volunteers have commented on the position of the watchlist link. We are working on this. Details are available on Phabricator.

: New language switching functionality
Over the past few months, the team has focused on improving the language switching functionality for our projects. Previously, the language links were available at the bottom of the sidebar menu and were difficult to find for readers and new editors. We have made a change that allows the language switching functionality to appear at the top of the page via a button. We have built this functionality based on the input of editors and readers from our prototype and other user testing.

The functionality was deployed to 50% of logged-in users in June of 2021 to allow for the performance of an A/B test that will compare usage to the previous location. Currently, the A/B test is completed and all users on pilot wikis should be able to see the new language switching functionality.

: Prototype testing report coming up
In May and June of 2021, the team requested feedback from 30 different language communities on a prototype of the latest feature ideas for the project. These were the user menu that will allow for users to have their personal links all in one place, and a fixed “sticky” header that gives the ability to access features (e.g. edit, access to history and talk pages) all the time. Both of these were previously only available at the top of the page. Overall, we received 305 replies from logged-in users on their experience with the prototypes.

The large majority of participants indicated positive experience with the prototype. However, we also received some feedback around the behavior of the sticky header. In particular, there were requests to make it persistent throughout the experience rather than triggered only when scrolling. We are currently implementing these suggested changes.

A full report on the analysis of the feedback we received will be published later this month.

: User testing report now available
In early 2021, the Web team and Design Research team contracted three independent research groups to study the usage of two proposed features: a fixed "sticky" header and a persistent table of contents. Our goal was to allow frequently used functionality to be available throughout the page, thus reducing the time people scrolled up and down the page looking for the tools they need. We tested new readers, casual readers, and editors in three different countries - Ghana, Indonesia, and Argentina and three different languages - English, Bahasa Indonesia, and Spanish. This report shows the findings of our studies. Overall, both of the proposed features were positively received by the study participants.

: New search widget live on pilot wikis, A/B test in progress for logged-in users
We are happy to announce that our new search widget is now available on all of our current pilot wikis by default. The new search functionality optimizes the search experience by providing context on search results, such as images and descriptions, making it easier to find the correct results.

We are also performing an A/B test on pilot wikis, for logged-in users only. The A/B test provides the new widget for 50% of logged-in users and compares it to the old search for the remaining 50%. The results of the test will allow us to measure the success of the feature and to identify areas for improvement and iteration. The test will run for 2 weeks, after which, we will analyze and publish the results.

: New search widget and other general updates
Over the past few months, we have been working on the new search widget, which will optimize the current experience by providing context, such as images and descriptions, for searches. While we have experienced some delays with this deployment, we are currently scheduled to deploy some time in February.

We have also begun reviewing some of the data on the Desktop Improvements project as a whole, as well as on individual features. We have published a report on the usage of the collapsible sidebar. According to the data, logged-out users are more likely to keep the sidebar collapsed than logged-in users. These results gave us confidence that our eventual default will be keeping the sidebar open for logged-in users and closed for logged-out users.

In addition, we also have begun looking at the rates at which logged-in users are opting out of the desktop improvements on our pilot wikis. The average opt-out rates for all logged-in users were between 1.78% on euwiki and 4.09% on hewiki. For active editors, the range was between 5% and 14%. We will be looking at this data in more detail in the weeks to come.

Finally, we wanted to give a quick timeline of the next few months:


 * February 2021 - new search widget deployed to pilot wikis. The pilot wiki list will expand to include Portuguese Wikipedia, Turkish Wikipedia, Korean Wikipedia, Serbian Wikipedia, and German Wikivoyage.


 * February 2021 - Second round of prototypes for logged in users. We will be running a second round of prototypes for the sticky header and user menu with logged-in users over the month of February. We encourage everyone to review these and give us feedback!


 * March 2021 - We are currently focused on improving our language switching capabilities. We plan on deploying the new functionality this March to our pilot wikis.

: New location of search bar now available on all wikis
We have deployed the new location of the search functionality to all projects. The new location is available by default for anonymous users on our early adopter wikis, and by preference for all other users.

We are also performing an A/B test of the new location with logged-in users on our early adopter wikis. 50% of logged-in users are seeing the new experience, while the other 50% are seeing the old experience. This test will last two weeks. Our hypothesis is that the group with the new experience will search more frequently. Results will be available in approximately one month.

: Collapsible sidebar, maximum width, and new header now available to all users on euwiki, fawiki, frwiktionary, euwiki, and ptwikiversity
Basque, Farsi, and Hebrew Wikipedias, as well as French Wiktionary and Portuguese Wikiversity have now received the new version of the Vector skin by default. For now, these changes include the collapsible sidebar, maximum width, and new header. For feedback and questions - please head to our talk page.

: Collapsible sidebar, maximum width, and new header now available as a preference to all projects
We have now deployed our collapsible sidebar, maximum width, and new header to all projects as a user preference. To opt-in - go to the appearance tab on your preferences page and uncheck the "legacy vector" option. Once opted in, you will receive all future updates as soon as they are ready. For feedback and questions - please head to our talk page.

Our first change, a collapsible sidebar, allows users to collapse the lengthy menu on the left side of the page. We believe this change improves usability by allowing people to focus on the content itself - on reading, editing, or moderating.

Our second change introduces a maximum line width to our content on pages such as article pages and discussion pages. Studies have shown that limiting the width can lead to better retention of content, as well as a decrease in eye strain. (please review our FAQ for a list of the literature reviewed)

: Collapsible sidebar on officewiki, new header, and feature descriptions
We deployed our collapsible sidebar on officewiki and testwiki. You can see it by going to either of those projects, or by appending the url parameter ?useskinversion=2 to the url on any project.

In addition, we have published more details on the collapsible sidebar and header and logo changes, including in-depth feature descriptions and analysis and measurement plans.