Wikimedia Research/Heuristic Evaluation for VisualEditor (iOS)

Heuristics Used
Nielsen/ Normen 10 Heuristics for User Interface Design

Tasks Tested
Making an edit using Visual Editor. Specifically, I tested mainly making text edits and not inserting anything, adding cites, links or tables.

Severity Levels:
Low = Issue that is annoying or distracting from task, but task can be accomplished

Medium = Can still accomplish a task because of a work around existing, though it is not intuitive or easy for the user to accomplish - they have to learn something to do the task. Some users will give up, some will persevere.

High = Show stopper. A high severity issue stops the users ability to accomplish the task.

Findings: Mobile Web iOS on ipad (en.m.wikipedia.org)
1. L The friendly dialogue describing VE and what can be done with it - and describing that it is in beta could have a little less text, and maybe be split into two paragraphs for easier scanning.

2. L Incase a user doesn't want to see it each time they log in after the first time, maybe a check box for "please don't show this to me again"

3. L When scrolling down, the VE tool editor disappears and then reappears after I stop scrolling. Is there any way to make the scroll bar come along with me as I scroll down instead of disappearing and reappearing? (it is a little distracting, though if it is a lot of work to make it come along, might not be worth it as people will learn to wait for it to show up) This is probably mostly an issue for a first time user.

4. L It is not clear that the blue arrow (on the top right as I edit) is what will take me to “save”. Maybe the word "save" somewhere? This will mostly be for new users, and it is learnable, so Low severity.

5. L When you get to the next page where you "tell us what changed" the green arrow is usually an indication that something is done. Might be good to have more clearly a call to action to complete the process. (Again, this is learnable, and mostly for new users)

5. L If I make an edit and the keyboard is still present, I push the blue arrow, the arrow blinks, and the keyboard disappears. Is it possible for. There is no feedback that I need to press it again to get to the green. (? The green/blue arrow disappeared. What happened to it? I think it is better seeing [save] instead of the arrow.)

5. L When switching between VE and Source Edit, it is great that it is possible to switch and that there is a note indicating that you have to save before switching. Would be nice if you could just switch back and forth without having to save.

6. M If I am in VE and I just want to place my cursor to indicate where to add a link or image or to type, the keyboard comes up and the tool bar disappears. If I want to add an image or cite or something I would find in the tool bar, I have to scroll up to find the tool bar, and the keyboard remains. Once I get to the button for say, [Cite] and press it, the keyboard disappears, but then the cite box came up and was covered. I tested this a few times, and it behaved differently. Might be a bug? (to reproduce- intending to add a new section, scroll down to lower in an article to find the place for the new section/ place cursor within the article/ scroll up to find [Heading] / press [Heading]/ cursor position is shown, keyboard is visible, and tool for selection of type of new section is not visible/ scroll up to choose the proper section type/ takes me back to text / have to scroll up to see open list of styles.

7. L I have to press [Edit beta] twice to get to VE - same goes for [Edit source].