Wikimedia Research/Design Research/Reading Team UX Research

Want to know more about what UX Research is currently happening on the Reading Team? You've come to the right place!

This page serves as a guide to what the UX/Design Research teams are planning, or in the process of conducting, for Reading team products (Web, iOS, and Android).

Keep checking back for updates!

Android
For this quarter we are focusing on Navigation and continuing with last quarter's research that we did not have enough participants/the right tools to conduct. Bonus:
 * Android workflows: define the top workflows encountered with the Android app. Conduct remote and online usability tests to understand which workflows work well and which don't work as well as they could. Last quarter we tested workflows with two participants, waiting for three more participants to sign up for this test to be completed.
 * Navigation redesign: more info coming soon
 * Reading lists: a prototype for reading lists (a similar feature to Gather, RIP) exists. A usability test will be conducted in Prototype Labs once the prototype is ready. (This is a carry-over from last quarter. We did not have the tools to conduct this test so it was postponed.)
 * Feeds: this is a new feature that will benefit from Feeds research being done on iOS, extended either this quarter or next to Android!
 * Quantitative research tools: exploring options for future work with our EventLogging data

Web

 * Hover cards: this beta feature is up for potentially extending to all wikis.

iOS

 * Random article browsing feature (guerilla testing, done)
 * Longitudinal study: Assess the efficacy of the Feed in promoting ‘engaged browsing' behavior from our users. Currently blocked on implementation of observation tool.
 * Nearby feature improvements (low priority): there are a few variations of proposed updates to Nearby features. These may be usability tested.
 * Notifications secondary research review: how do others use notifications? What research already exists for the implementation of notifications? What to people like to be notified about?
 * Notifications survey: to help us understand users' needs/desires around iOS notifications, a survey will be conducted asking questions around the topic.

Android

 * Android workflows: define the top workflows encountered with the Android app. Conduct remote, and potentially online, usability tests to understand which workflows work well and which don't work as well as they could. Still in planning phase, no deadline set yet.
 * Reading lists: a prototype for reading lists (a similar feature to Gather, RIP) exists. A usability test will be conducted in Prototype Labs once the prototype is ready. Still in planning phase.

Web

 * Hover cards: this beta feature is up for potentially extending to all wikis. First, it needs to have some design issues fixed, and then will be presented to researchers for building a protocol for usability testing. Still in planning phase.
 * Language Switching: Some design changes are being made with the language switching functionality. We have run a usability test on usertesting.com.
 * Related pages: this feature exists, but it has been flagged by the community as potentially not valuable. Type of testing still being discussed. No plans yet.
 * In-article navigation: it has been requested to possibly look in to testing how users interact with mobile web's non-expanded content sections. Type of testing still being discussed. No plans yet.

iOS

 * Feed: Assess the efficacy of the Feed in promoting ‘engaged browsing' behavior from our users. Still in planning phase.
 * Notifications: determine what research already exists on this, and from there decide what we need to do for the app. Still exploring existing research.
 * Search bar: based on user feedback from the last release, we are building a more prominent search bar. Still in design phase. Will run usability test when ready. Still in planning phase.
 * Text size change/accessibility: based on user feedback from the last release, we will be adding functionality to be able to change text size in the app. We are also working with accessibility experts/engineers to continue audits on the app in this area. We will be making improvements as these results come back, and test the results. Still in planning phase.

Language Switching
Research Question: ''Can multilingual users find and use the new language switcher interface? What is that experience like?''

Screening criteria: Protocol/Tasks: Follow-up questions:
 * 1) Welcome! Before we get started, please opt in to using Wikipedia's beta features by clicking the hamburger menu (icon at top left), then click "Settings" in the popout menu, check "Beta," and then save.
 * 2) Please navigate to the Barack Obama page.
 * 3) You mentioned that you are fluent in more than one language. Please show us how you would find this Barack Obama page in another language that you know. Take some time to try to find this page in another language, and talk us through what you're seeing and thinking.
 * 4) If you were able to find the Barack Obama page in another language, that's good to hear!  From this page, how would you go back to the Barack Obama page in the original language (the language we started with)?
 * 5) If you weren't able to find the Barack Obama page in another language, click the language icon under the page title and give it another shot. Tell us what you're thinking as you explore this and try to find the Obama page in a different language. Skip ahead to step 7 if this doesn't apply to you.
 * 6) If you are now successful, show us how would you go back to the Barack Obama page in the original language (the language we started with).
 * 7) How did you feel about the process of finding a page in another language, and then switching back and forth?
 * 8) Now find the English page for Fides Bluff. How would you find this page in another language? Take a minute or so and then move to the next task.
 * 9) If you were successful, tell us how it went. if you weren't, tell us what you think happened.
 * 10) Fides Bluff is not available in other languages, so that was a trick question. Gotcha!! Thanks for showing us how you would handle that surprise.
 * 1) Do you have any thoughts on the process of switching page languages?
 * 2) How did you feel about the icon for switching languages?
 * 3) For the Fides Bluff page, the icon was dimmed out. How did you feel when you came across this dimmed out icon?
 * 4) Do you have any other feedback or suggestions for what you saw and experienced today?

Text Sizer Usability - iOS
Research questions: ''Are users able to change Wikipedia article text size on the iOS app? Is the experience easy to discover and use?''

Participants: 6 under 55, 6 over 55. Half in each group were male, half female.

Protocol/Tasks: Outcome/answer:
 * Search for the article for “Vampire.”
 * Scroll down to view the section about “Folk Beliefs.” Read a bit about this topic.
 * You now wish that the text was larger because you forgot your glasses. How would you solve this problem? Take a minute or two on this, then go on to the next task.
 * If you found a way to change the text size, skip ahead to the next task. If you didn’t find it yet, try tapping the TT icon at the bottom of the screen (second icon from the left).
 * How would you describe your experience changing the text size for this article?
 * You remembered where you put your glasses, and are now wearing them!  Now go to the article for “Wombat” and make the text size smaller.
 * Now, go to the main Explore page. Oops, your glasses fell off your face and are now broken. :( How would you now change the text size to be larger? Take a minute or two on this, then go on to the next task.
 * Right now there’s no way to change the text size for the Explore page in the app, so this was sort of a trick question! Thank you for showing us how you might solve for that problem.
 * Have you ever had issues reading Wikipedia articles on your phone?
 * If this feature were available on the Wikipedia app, how would that affect your use of Wikipedia?

100% of participants are successful in their attempts to solve the problem of resizing text in Wikipedia articles on the iOS app. The text size changer icon was simple to notice and access and the slider method was straightforward and usable.