Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Updates

: Table of Contents is available
We have deployed the new table of contents. It makes it easier to gain context of the contents of a page and navigate the page without needing to scroll to the top.

It is currently available to three groups of users. First, all who use Vector 2022 and are not on our pilot wikis. Second and third - 50% of logged-in users of Hebrew and Basque Wikipedias. Next week, we will be A/B testing the table of contents across the rest of our pilot wikis. We would like to check if there's a decrease in the need to scroll to the top of the page.

Before all that, we prepared a series of prototype tests with both readers and editors. To read more about how we worked on the feature based on feedback, please see the project page.

Now, we are working on the feature based on the feedback from users mentioned in the second paragraph. In particular:

We will track this in T307004 and will probably have the implementation ready within a few days.
 * ToC on narrower screens. We have increased the threshold for which the ToC currently hides to 1000px.  (See T306904 for more context).  This was to make it more comfortable to read on narrower screens.  This is a temporary fix, though.  The conversation about the best solution will continue in T306660.  By the end of April/early May we hope to have clear next steps on our preference of the options presented there.
 * We are beginning the work on reducing the margins for screens between 1000px - 1200px. This will make the table of contents smaller and create more space for text.

: Development of the Table of Contents


The results of our 3rd prototype testing showed an overwhelming support for the proposed table of contents. Based on that, the team focused on developing this feature. The new table of contents will be persistent - users will have access to it at all times. It will also make it easier to understand the context of the page. In addition to that, it will be possible to navigate to different parts of the page without having to scroll all the way back to the top. We are expecting to deploy the new table of contents to our pilot wikis in the first half of April.

: Page tools feedback
The team is beginning work on page tools (sometimes referred to as article tools). Our goal is to make it easier to distinguish the purpose of individual items within the sidebar. We are currently collecting feedback on our proposed prototype. We look forward to hearing your thoughts! Please go to our prototype testing page and fill out the form.

: Sticky header confirmed to decrease the need to scroll to the top of the page
From January 5 to January 31, 2022, we ran an A/B test. We wanted to assess the impact of deploying the sticky header. The test ran on 22 of our pilot wikis. Logged-in users who were assigned to the treatment group with the new skin version saw the sticky header. Users in the control group saw the old feature.

The primary goal of the AB test was to test our hypothesis. We had been expecting that the sticky header would decrease the need to scroll to the top of the page. Overall, we saw an average 15% decrease in scrolls per session by logged-in users on the 15 pilot wikis in the treatment group (with the new sticky header), compared to the control group (without the sticky header). On the remaining 7 pilot wikis, there was too little activity and we excluded them. The results indicate that our hypothesis was correct. Adding the sticky header to the page reduced the need to scroll to the top of the page significantly. [ https://jenniferwang-wmf.github.io/Web_sticky_header/ Read the full report].

: More pilot wikis
The Desktop Improvements are default on twelve more wikis. These are, above all: Moroccan Arabic, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese Wikipedias, French Wikiquote, Portuguese and Polish Wikinews, Vietnamese Wikibooks, and MediaWiki wiki. In addition to these, we have enabled the changes on the Wikimedia Foundation-related wikis: Wikimedia Foundation Governance wiki, Collab wiki, and Strategy wiki. Currently, there are almost 30 pilot wikis. Among them, there are wikis of different scripts and sizes, written on all continents, and run both by the communities and the Foundation. We hope that soon, at least one Wikisource will be added to that list.

: 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.