Wikimedia Research/Heuristic Evaluation for VisualEditor (iOS)

Heuristics Used
Nielsen/ Normen 10 Heuristics for User Interface Design

Tasks Tested
Making an edit using VisualEditor on en.m.wikipedia.org. Specifically, I tested 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.

High level thoughts/ Questions
1. Are we thinking of Laptop, iOS, Android and all other possible end points for VE as a whole system? I ask because some users may use several ways to enter and edit wikipedia (a tablet at one time, a phone at another time and then their laptop at a different time). Consistency across formats will make it easier for people to learn and interact.

2. Is it possible for Wikipedia.org to default to language.m.wikipedia.org when it is opened on a phone or tablet? If it does not default to moble, how will people even know there is an experience designed specifically for mobile usage?

Findings: Mobile Web iOS on ipad (en.m.wikipedia.org)
1. Medium When you get to the next page ("tell us what you changed") the green arrow appears. Usually a check mark means something is complete. Do people understand that they need to press the arrow to complete the save? Might be good to have more clearly a call to action to complete the process. (This is definitely learnable, so not a huge deal, but the new users might have a little confusion.)

2. Low The friendly dialogue introducing VE, what can be done with it, and describing that it is in beta could have a little less text. Maybe it could be split into two paragraphs for easier scanning. 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" (turns out this only shows up once.. so not an issue)

3. Medium When scrolling down, or when the keyboard is visible, the VE tool bar disappears and then reappears. Sometimes it does not reappear until I scroll up. It is distracting and could cause some confusion. This is learnable, but feels buggy. Suggestion: Is it possible make the scroll bar come along with with the user as they scroll and edit instead of disappearing and reappearing?

4. Low It is not clear that the blue arrow (on the top right as I edit) is where a user goes to “save”. This will mostly be for new users, and it is learnable, so Low severity.(Is this an iOS standard?) Suggestion: Add the word "Save" or make the arrow the word "save"

5. Low Sometimes when I press the save arrow, and the keyboard is in view, pressing the arrow just removes the keyboard and does no other action. (bug?)