Starting in January 2020 we have been working with Hureo, a user research firm based in India, to perform a user study on how new and casual readers use the desktop interface of Wikipedia.The outcome of the first phase of the study is a report detailing their observations from 24 user interviews.Read more
2020年3月:原型反馈的完整结果
In December, 2019 we published a prototype of the first few features of the desktop improvements project for community feedback.We received detailed, thoughtful feedback from over 200 logged-in users, across five languages.We have published a report which highlights the main points raised, both positive and negative, and our plans going forward in response to this feedback.The prototype presented a collapsible version of the sidebar, a fixed-width layout, and a more prominent location for the language switcher.The feedback was mostly positive, with the majority of users seeing the proposed changes as an improvement over the current design.However there were also some areas of concern.Many of the issues raised were due to bugs in the prototype (particularly with the language switching menu), while others exposed areas for improvement that we will iterate on and/or keep an eye on during development.
2020年2月:有关初始功能和整体功能序列的更新
We have began building the opting-in and opting-out structure for the project.
The setting for turning the improvements on will be within the user preferences list for logged-in users.For test wikis, the improvements will be on by default, but logged-in users will be able to turn them off anytime via their preferences or a button in the sidebar.Please see the Opting in and Release Plan page for more details and mockups.
As we will be testing each individual feature prior to building, this list is subject to change based on the feedback we receive.
2020年2月:第一轮反馈摘要
We have finished our first round of feedback for the prototype of the first few features of the desktop improvements project: the new header, collapsible sidebar, and improved language switching.So far, the results have been mostly positive, with the majority of users seeing the changes as a significant improvement over the current design.However, we also found a few areas for improvement that we will iterate on and consider during development.Here are a few highlights of the results so far:
A majority of the editors who tested the prototype really liked the new location of the language switcher.
A few editors raised concerns around internationalization and the ability to switch languages using one click.
A majority of the editors liked the collapsibility of the sidebar, especially for readers
There were some concerns around the amount of white space introduced with a collapsible sidebar and fixed-width layout
We saw many requests for a dark/night mode for the site
We are currently running the second feedback round on English and Polish Wikipedias.If you haven’t had a chance yet, please let us know your thoughts on the prototype page.Once both feedback rounds are completed, we will be publishing a more in-depth report.
2020年1月:语言切换用户测试
In December we did some usability testing to compare the current placement of the Universal Language Selector (in the sidebar) with the proposed location in the article header.We tested a prototype with 21 users in order to determine if people have an easier time switching languages given the new location of the language switcher.The results of the test confirmed our hypothesis — participants in the test group (new location) were able to switch languages more quickly than participants in the control group (old location).Based on these results we plan on continuing to explore moving the language selector to this location as a part of the desktop improvements project.
2019年12月:原型测试
Between December 2019 and February 2020, we will be performing tests on a prototype for the first few features of the desktop improvements project.We will be gathering feedback from a variety of test wikis by encouraging editors to participate using a central notice banner.We ran the banners and received feedback from the majority of our test wikis during December 2019.In February 2020, we will continue running the banners on English and Polish Wikipedias.So far, the feedback we have received is mostly positive but we have also identified some areas of our prototype that we will iterate on based on the feedback.We will be publishing the results of the first round of feedback over the next few weeks, and of the second, sometime in February.In the meantime, we encourage you to give us feedback (if you haven't yet) on the prototype page.
2019年10月:技术研究第二部分
We have published the results of our technical research in preparation for beginning the work on the project.In particular, we have focused on gathering more information on the following:
During Wikimania 2019, we interviewed editors with the goal of sharing the plans for our upcoming Desktop improvements project, and collecting valuable feedback on a number of preliminary design ideas.Our research consisted of user interviews, a free-form feedback exercise, and a presentation with breakout groups for more focused discussion.We have published a report and a PDF summary (in English) of the feedback we received.Overall, we received positive feedback on the focus areas selected, as well as the individual prototypes for ideas.However, we were also able to identify areas for improvements.
We will be iterating over this feedback over the next few weeks and plan on developing a prototype that we can test with a wider audience across wikis.
In the slideshow below is a sample of 19 of the ideas we tested.For more context, please read the full report and then give us feedback on the talk page!
Collapsible sidebar prototype for the Desktop improvements project
A sketch of collapsible sections within the sidebar for the Desktop improvements project
Language switcher in article header prototype for the Desktop improvements project
Sketch of emphasized language switching options for Desktop improvement project
Sketch of emphasized language switching options on a scrolled page for Desktop improvement project
Sketch of full language panel in new location for Desktop improvements project
Search prototype for the Desktop improvements project
Sketch of search results with images and descriptions for Desktop improvements project
Sketch of a minimized search in the site header for Desktop improvements project
Table of contents prototype for Desktop improvements project
Sketch of table of contents off article title for Desktop improvements project
Sketch of table of contents as a sidebar for Desktop improvements project
Consolidated user tools prototype for Desktop improvements project
Sketch of user tools with watchlist and contributions as icons outside of the menu
Article tools prototype for the Desktop improvements project
Sketch of page tools as a pin-able menu for the Desktop improvements project
Sketch of page tools as a pin-able menu (scrolled page) for the Desktop improvements project
Post-its with feedback on a mockup for the Desktop improvements project
Updated Wikipedia desktop interface sketch for Wikimania poster
2019年9月:桌面版使用情况和行为数据分析
As a part of our research process, we wanted to learn more about the way people currently use the site.In particular, how often they use available functionality such as links in the sidebar, language switching, and search.We have published our results.Overall, usage of sidebar links is low - only about 0.5% of all logged out users and 1.6% of all logged-in desktop users clicked on one of the pages linked in the sidebar.Language switching usage varied, generally based on the size of the wiki, with smaller wikis switching languages more often.
2019年8月:维基媒体国际会议上的研究和头脑风暴
Slides used in the Wikimania session
Wikimania provided us with the opportunity to speak with experienced members of our communities.Over the five days of the conference we were able to share the plans for the project, and collect valuable feedback on a number of design ideas.Our research consisted of user interviews, a free-form feedback exercise, and a presentation + brainstorming session (you can see the slide-deck we used at the side).We will soon be publishing the summary of the feedback, as well as interview session results.
2019年8月:技术研究
To explore different technical possibilities for the project, the team spent a week hacking on different approaches to a single problem - how to enable the sidebar in the desktop experience to be collapsible. We are hoping to use the results from these experiments to determine the technical architecture for the improvements, as well as the skin we would like to build these improvements within. Here is a list of the experiments themselves: