Timestamp position modification

From mediawiki.org

Rationale[edit]

  • Inexperienced users are often unaware that documents have history and that this history can be browsed.
  • Inexperienced users are often unaware that a document's structure is fluid, especially with regard to current events.

User Stories[edit]

  • As a reader, I want to see when this article was last edited, so that I can trust Wikipedia more.
  • As an editor, I want to see when this article was last edited, so that I can protect it from harm and improve it.

Hypothesis[edit]

  • Providing an obvious key to a document's fluid nature will promote user understanding of document history (and that it even exists).
  • Increased awareness of the transparent history and last update to an article may encourage more updates to it.

Feature Requirements[edit]

  • A human-readable, time-relative timestamp is to be included in the Article title.
  • This timestamp links to the Article's history page.
  • This timestamp will only appear on Articles, not on any other pages.

User Experience[edit]

Note: This modification would not remove the timestamp from the footer. This suggestion is in addition to the existing timestamp.

Current[edit]

The current timestamp location

Currently, the only timestamp exists at the bottom of the page, in the chrome. It is easily overlooked, and is not in a human-readable format (it isn't even in the user's local timezone).

Proposed[edit]

A screenshot of the feature

A link will be inserted (via JavaScript) in the Article title, floated right (but left of any article icons or emblems). To avoid issues with cache spoiling, the JavaScript on the page would rewrite the timestamp so that it is human-readable (e.g., "X minutes ago", "Y hours ago," "Z days ago," and so forth. Absolute accuracy is not required; only enough to indicate that the Article is a living document.

This change will be executed by Extension:LastModified

Analysis requirements[edit]

See Research:Timestamp position modification