Issue tracker: #desktop-improvements
It has been 10 years since the current default Wikimedia skin (Vector) was deployed. Over the last decade, the interface has been enriched with extensions, gadgets and user scripts. Most of these were not coordinated visually or cross-wiki. At the same time, web design, as well as the expectations of readers and editors, have evolved. We think it's time to take some of these ideas and bring them to the default experience of all users, on all wikis, in an organized, consistent way. Over the next couple of years, the readers web team will be researching and building out improvements to the desktop experience based on research and existing tools.
Our goals are to make Wikimedia wikis more welcoming and to increase the utility amongst readers and maintain utility for existing editors. We will measure the increase of trust and positive sentiment towards our sites, and the utility of our sites (the usage of common actions such as search and language switching).
Initially, on most wikis, only logged-in users will be able to opt-in individually. On selected wikis, our changes will be deployed for all by default, and logged-in users will be able to opt-out. We are hoping to increase the set of early adopter wikis gradually, until our improvements are default on all wikis in 2021.
We have deployed the new location of the search functionality to all projects. The new location is available by default for anonymous users on our early adopter wikis, and by preference for all other users.
We are also performing an A/B test of the new location with logged-in users on our early adopter wikis. 50% of logged-in users are seeing the new experience, while the other 50% are seeing the old experience. This test will last two weeks. Our hypothesis is that the group with the new experience will search more frequently. Results will be available in approximately one month.
Basque, Farsi, and Hebrew Wikipedias, as well as French Wiktionary and Portuguese Wikiversity have now received the new version of the Vector skin by default. For now, these changes include the collapsible sidebar, maximum width, and new header. For feedback and questions - please head to our talk page.
We have now deployed our collapsible sidebar, maximum width, and new header to all projects as a user preference. To opt-in - go to the appearance tab on your preferences page and uncheck the "legacy vector" option. Once opted in, you will receive all future updates as soon as they are ready. For feedback and questions - please head to our talk page.
Our first change, a collapsible sidebar, allows users to collapse the lengthy menu on the left side of the page. We believe this change improves usability by allowing people to focus on the content itself - on reading, editing, or moderating.
Our second change introduces a maximum line width to our content on pages such as article pages and discussion pages. Studies have shown that limiting the width can lead to better retention of content, as well as a decrease in eye strain. (please review our FAQ for a list of the literature reviewed)
We would like to gradually rearrange this…
…into this :)
…doesn't match the expectations. …is cluttered and not intuitive. …doesn't highlight the community side. …isn't consistent with the mobile version.