On Thu, Jul 17, 2014 at 4:24 AM, Andrew Gray <andrew.gray@dunelm.org.uk> wrote:
> A/B testing for major interface changes isn't such a good idea, I
> think. It's great for small things like login fields that people
> aren't likely to notice, but once you get into major interface
> elements you're going to get quite a few people confused or
> frustrated.
>
> "Why is your Wikipedia different to mine?", "Why does this not look
> like the help page says?", etc.

Regarding help pages ...

It is safe to say that a decent segment of the editing community wants
to keep the old interface, and the old interface is needed to edit the
page, and I think it is safe to assume that the MediaViewer isnt going
away - at worst it will go back to being a Beta Feature that is
enabled for a large segment of the userbase.

Therefore, the help pages need to cover both.  This is a cost of
introducing a feature that isnt a complete replacement of prior
functionality - and has a high maintenance cost that the devs and
community must bear.  The solution to that is to hold the feature in
Beta until it is an acceptable replacement for the existing
functionality.

If this A/B testing goes ahead, and I think it should, the relevant
help pages should have a note at the top that explains that testing is
occurring and their user pref may have been preset to either one.

--
John Vandenberg

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