Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Updates/2021-08 user menu

Desktop improvements. A new change!


Within the next couple of weeks, the Wikimedia Foundation Web team will move all links in the user menu (the username,,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ) into a dropdown menu. In the new menu, links will be paired with icons.

This change will make it more intuitive to find and understand the user links. The change is also a step towards the sticky header.


 * Why we are changing this

Currently, the user links are not presented cohesively as a unit. They create confusion for newcomers who do not know what the links are associated with. , it has been unclear that these are personal rather than site-wide tools. Icons will make it even easier to understand the links.

In addition to that, currently, the links take a lot of space on the screen. Together with the sidebar, these contribute to a feeling of a cluttered interface.

We are beginning to work on a sticky header. It will be available at the top of the screen all the time. Without a dropdown menu for the user links, the sticky header would be far less useful.


 * How will we verify the improvement

As always, we will verify if the change improves the usability. This time, we will not perform any A/B tests. Instead, we will compare the usage of the links for the two weeks before and two weeks after the change.


 * Gadgets' compatibility

Some gadgets and user scripts might need to be updated or might become redundant or obsolete. We provide support for users who would like to maintain the compatibility.


 * Let's work together


 * Subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular updates.
 * Share your ideas and ask questions on our talk page.
 * Create a task on Phabricator and add tag or write to us if you notice a bug.
 * Translate the documentation on MediaWiki.org.

How to connect pages with Wikidata items in the new Vector
In the week of August 2nd, the link for " /  " will be restored to the sidebar. It will appear in the section as "  /  ".

When building the language button, we did not include the " /  " link. This was because this functionality is a part of improved language selector. That selector is currently being built by another team of the Wikimedia Foundation. As a result, the link was missing. We have received requests to restore it.

We explored the best way to do it as a temporary solution. We decided to add it into the sidebar in the section. You can see the location on the screenshot.

When the improved language selector is deployed, the " /  " link will be back together with the language links in the button.