Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Repository/Wikimania Stockholm research report

Wikimania provided us with the opportunity to speak with experienced and opinionated community members. Over the five days of the conference we were able to share the plans for our upcoming Desktop improvements project, and collect valuable feedback on design ideas. Our research consisted of user interviews, a free-form feedback exercise, and a presentation with breakout groups for focused discussion. Note: to better understand the context surrounding the various ideas on this page please refer to the main project page, or more specifically the Phase 1 and Phase 2 pages.

Below is an overview of the user interviews by feature. We interviewed 18 Wikimedians in total.

Collapsible sidebar
The sidebar contains a lot of useful tools for editors, however is seldom used by casual readers. Making the sidebar collapsible (collapsed by default for logged-out users, and expanded by default for logged-in users) provides a more focused reading experience. Link to prototype

Feedback overview:


 * There was general support for this idea. People agreed that this capability is useful and that a collapsed sidebar makes a lot of sense for readers.
 * The links in the sidebar are currently disorganized and many of them are rarely used by readers or editors, though that’s somewhat of a separate issue.
 * Tradeoff between a focused reading experience and the opportunity for people to explore areas they might not otherwise
 * Is the hamburger icon globally recognizable?
 * By showing fewer entry points for contribution, maybe the ones we do show (e.g. Edit, Talk, etc.) will get more engagement

Quick score: support (9 support, 3 neutral, 1 dislike)

An additional idea we discussed, and heard support for, but is not part of the prototype is having the sections within the sidebar be collapsible as well:

Language switcher
Currently the language links are located in the sidebar, often below the “fold” of the page. Moving language switching to a more prominent location could facilitate easier switching and a greater awareness of Wikipedia’s multilingual offerings. Link to prototype

Feedback overview:


 * There was general support for this idea. People agreed that the language switcher deserves a more prominent location, and liked the placement near the article header.
 * There were some concerns around the idea of collapsing languages (as opposed to displaying the full list).
 * Make sure to use the full language panel with search and settings. This ensures that when you have many languages it’s still a good experience.
 * Could we make it even easier to switch to the desired language? Use geolocation and try to predict?
 * Could we use a more obvious icon?

Quick score: support (9 support, 1 neutral, 2 dislike)

The main takeaway from our conversations are that in the cases where people are likely to change languages a dropdown menu may not be sufficiently discoverable. It might therefore make sense to have two different treatments:

Search
Currently the search field is a relatively small element and is only accessible from the top of the page. Increasing the size and prominence of the search field, and making it always available regardless of scroll position would encourage greater exploration and learning. Link to prototype

Feedback overview:


 * There was general support for this idea. People liked search being more obvious, and liked the fixed header that made it available from anywhere on the page.
 * Could we hide it while scrolling down the page, and reveal it upon scrolling up (to preserve as much reading space as possible)?
 * What additional items might valuable in a fixed header?
 * What will happen as a result of the logo getting smaller?
 * Include images and descriptions in the search results list

Quick score: support (10 support, 1 neutral, 1 dislike)

The main takeaway from our conversations are that in the cases where people are likely to change languages a dropdown menu may not be sufficiently discoverable. It might therefore make sense to have two different treatments:

Free-form feedback exercise
During the three days of the conference we also displayed a poster of a redesigned desktop interface in a main walkway, with the prompt “''Let’s improve desktop. Thoughts?''”. We placed post-its and markers on a shelf underneath the poster. This resulted in 77 comments (we cleared the post-its off periodically when the poster got full).