Wikimedia Apps/Team/Android/Design

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Overview[edit]

This page provides a general introduction to team practices when working with design on the Android team, as well as background on significant changes and activities related to design.

Design activities[edit]

Timeline of major design features released[edit]

May 2018 Re-evaluate navigation paradigm: Article stack ⇄ Feed interaction
Apr 2018 Multilingual support {T160567}
Apr 2018 Offline support improvements - storage and sync settings and capabilities {Phab tag: Android Offline}
Feb 2018 Synchronized reading lists (cross platform) {Phab tag: Synchronized Reading Lists}
Dec 2017 The 'Fortune cookie' release contained a number of updates and additions to the UI:
Sep 2017 Offline Library - user concept and usability testing of V1 prototype
Aug 2017 Dark mode colors updated on Android {T172984}
May 2017 Google app backups enabled {T130331} (NOTE: this is different from reading lists syncing, this merely means users can keep reading lists and other app data during factory resets or device updates)
May 2017 Updated Reading list cache behavior & improved usability {T155868}
Apr 2017 Turkey blocks Wikipedia [1]
Mar 2017 Title descriptions editing {T145813} - released to limited wikis
Dec 2016 Community consultation on Micro-contributions {Consult page}
Sep 2016 Navigation changed from Hamburger to bottom nav {T141162}
Jul 2016 Feed introduced on Android {T129076} to largely positive feedback [2][3]
Apr 2016 V1 of (multiple) reading lists {T120108}

Other planned features[edit]

  • Improve Nearby {T142431}: add search + other features, learn from iOS Places
  • Micro-contributions - extend wikidata description usage, and/or implement another micro-contribution
  • Mobile app editing features - in-app editing, watchlists, Talk pages, etc
  • Investigate Instant apps
  • Investigate IoT device integrations – “Talk to” Google Home apps, Chromecast, Watch
  • Investigate Google Assistant/Now integration

Other design activities:[edit]

  • Accessibility review & overhaul
  • Improve motion design, add transitions to enhance fluidity of app
  • Visual updates/improvements - font & theme options, contextual article toolbar, further customizations

Resources / Related reading[edit]

Overview[edit]

Feed[edit]

Reading lists[edit]

Offline Library[edit]

NOTE: This used to be called “Collections”, then “Offline compilations”…

Micro-contributions[edit]

A community consultation was conducted in Dec 2016 to gauge support for different types of micro-contributions to potentially introduce after description editing.

Wikidata description (aka Title description) editing[edit]

  • Background info: Phab EPIC T145813 |  Design brief
  • Usertesting results
  • Analytics / Instrumentation
  • ENwiki pushback: We slowly rolled out this feature a few language wikis at a time, and it’s now on every wiki except EN. For some more background info on the enwiki community pushback on this feature, read this and/or this.
  • Further development: aside from enwiki concerns about wikidata, it’s worth noting this is the first addition of an in-app editing feature that has been quite successful and in general supported by the Community. It could be an easy-ish quick win to extend its usage by providing more opportunities to use it in the app – some tasks on the backlog to consider.

Nearby/Places[edit]

An iteration of Nearby renamed ‘Places’ was added the iOS app earlier this year. There are a number of improvements we can take from iOS back to Android.

Notifications/News[edit]

Working with design[edit]

Design documents & tools throughout the process

  • Begins usually in compiling a DESIGN BRIEF, which typically outlines the Goal, User story, research required and main flows. [Example design brief]
  • Once the team agrees on a piece of work, populate the PHABRICATOR board:
  • Sharing MOCKS, PROTOTYPES and TRANSITIONS is done via:
    • Invision – usually preferred since it is public and easy to update
    • Zeplin – good for Devs to see redline mocks and get assets (Invitation required to access the Wikipedia Android board)
    • Misc interactive prototypes and non-interactive videos to show transitions etc on Github & YouTube
    • Phabricator tickets/ ‘Pholio – less common since constantly uploading images to Phab is tiresome
  • REVIEWING work-in-progress:
    • Downloading bleeding edge updates on Wikipedia Alpha to a device
    • Use Android Studio and Emulators to review patches not even pushed to Alpha yet via copying from Gerrit
    • Android Tool - nifty tool to screencap or screencast your mobile
  • USER TESTING
    • Unmoderated testing on Usertesting.com (users provided by the site)
    • Moderated/Guerrilla testing:
      • Typically uses a specific cut of the Wikipedia Alpha build
      • 3rd party research agencies have been helping with this since our mobile apps researcher left WMF
      • Both Android and iOS share a pool of participants specifically recruited for testing mobile apps to use for in tests and surveys
    • Beta app - used to test new features slightly before release to production
    • A/B testing - As of 2018, limited to testing localized graphics in Play store listings
    • Community input – depending on the feature, RfCs and community consultations are conducted on mediawiki, etc

Gathering feedback and data[edit]

  • User feedback
    • Surveys using Qualtrics and Google Forms
    • Reviews (via Google Play console for Prod and Beta)
    • Email feedback (via OTRS)
    • Crash rates (Hockey app)
    • Social Media mentions
  • Chore wheel - Every person on the team has to review the feedback from different sources and send out an email to [[1]] – Read the protocol which gives instructions on the various sources.
  • App analytics – somewhat fragmented, but some sources are:
    • Play Console
    • Pivot
    • Hockey
    • Hive
    • TBD – there are ongoing discussions as of early 2018 to improve access to an analytics UI for those who are not familiar with running Event logging queries.

References[edit]

  1. Wikimedia blog post about the ban in Turkey https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/04/30/turkish-authorities-block-wikipedia/ As a way to reduce the number of Turkish user complaints, we subsequently added a note on the Turkish Play store ~31-May-2017 advising users of this ban.
  2. Some media coverage of the initial Android Explore feed release:
  3. Selection of quotes from Play store reviews:
    • "Newly added 'explore' option is simply wonderful!"
    • "After this latest update I have to say that the design is even more beautiful than before"
    • [Russian] "It was already easy-to-use, but the new update made it even better"
    • "Very interesting new update, I really like the new interface"
    • "This new version is so much better than the website and does a really good job of material design"
    • "Beautiful minimalist design, smooth, and great features always being added."
    • [Turkish] "...in better condition than all previous updates with the latest update. It is now possible to stay in a lot more interaction with the application."
    • "Finally, some great design!..."
    • "Its great to see a beautiful makeover of wikipedia..."
    • "The latest update gives the App a new look, and I like it a lot. Well organized and easy to navigate; a job well done."
    • "The new interface with material design is spectacular"
    • "Phenomenal app. Extremely well laid out and user friendly. Gets better with every update."