Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Updates/it

: 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. Read the full report.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: barra laterale comprimibile, larghezza massima e nuova intestazione ora disponibili per tutti gli utenti su euwiki, fawiki, frwiktionary, euwiki e ptwikiversity
Wikipedia in basco, persiano ed ebraico, così come Wikizionario in francese e Wikiversità in portoghese hanno ora ricevuto la nuova versione del tema Vector per impostazione predefinita. Per ora, queste modifiche includono la barra laterale pieghevole, la larghezza massima e la nuova intestazione. Per feedback e domande - vai alla nostra pagina di discussione.

: barra laterale pieghevole, larghezza massima e nuova intestazione ora disponibili come preferenza per tutti i progetti
Ora abbiamo distribuito la nostra barra laterale pieghevole, la larghezza massima e la nuova intestazione a tutti i progetti come preferenza dell'utente. Per iscriversi, vai alla scheda Aspetto nella pagina delle preferenze e deseleziona l'opzione "Legacy Vector". Una volta attivato, riceverai tutti gli aggiornamenti futuri non appena saranno pronti. Per feedback e domande - vai alla nostra pagina di discussione.

La nostra prima modifica, una barra laterale comprimibile, consente agli utenti di comprimere il lungo menu sul lato sinistro della pagina. Riteniamo che questo cambiamento migliori l'usabilità consentendo alle persone di concentrarsi sul contenuto stesso, sulla lettura, la modifica o la moderazione.

La nostra seconda modifica introduce una larghezza di riga massima per i nostri contenuti su pagine come pagine di articoli e pagine di discussione. 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)

: barra laterale comprimibile su officewiki, nuova intestazione e descrizioni delle funzioni
Abbiamo implementato la nostra barra laterale pieghevole su officewiki e testwiki. Puoi vederlo accedendo a uno di questi progetti o aggiungendo il parametro url ?useskinversion=2 all'URL di qualsiasi progetto.

Inoltre, abbiamo pubblicato maggiori dettagli sulla barra laterale comprimibile e sulle modifiche all'intestazione e al logo, comprese descrizioni approfondite delle caratteristiche e analisi e piani di misurazione.