Amir E. Aharoni wrote:
I have a few questions about the deployment of Vector
in Wikipedias in
other languages.
Hi, Amir.
Thank you for your help in contributing testing the beta, providing RTL
feedback and your active feedback on the recent deployment of the user
interface change to Commons and English Wikipedia.
1. When does the Foundation plan to perform the
switch?
I'll be coordinating the deployment schedule for the rest of the
languages and other Wikmedia projects in coming weeks by monitoring the
problems reported from Commons and English Wikipedia users, and
coordinating the schedule with the language community and the chapter
members. We do not have a specific date yet, but we hope to be able to
start migrating the rest of the languages and other projects within next
four weeks.
2. At least two major features which were not included
in the Beta,
were enabled in the English Wikipedia: the new search box with "Go"
and "Search" buttons and the collapsible sidebar which hides
interlanguage links by default. A significant number of users in
en.wikipedia expressed their dissatisfaction with them and with the
fact that they were introduced by surprise. They are still not a part
of the Beta in other languages. Will they be enabled in other
languages when they are switched to Vector?
Yes, these new features will be enabled as a part of beta. As you
reported the problems with the new search, we are adjusting the search
box interaction by expanding the search suggestion field and make
special search explicit. We hope to roll out the change later this
week, if not we revert back to the previous search behavior. This
change will be reflected across the beta for other languages.
3. Did anyone consider appointing "Vector
migration czars" in
Wikipedias in other languages? Because despite what some people might
think, quite a lot of speakers of other languages don't bother looking
at en.wikipedia and WMF blogs and mailing lists. I wrote a little
about the good (IMHO) and the bad (IMHO) features about Vector in the
Village Pumps of Wikipedias in languages that i know - Hebrew, Russian
and Catalan. I can report that there are a couple of JavaScript gurus
in he.wikipedia who have a positive attitude towards Vector and who
gradually adapt the gadgets to it, and there are a few other JS gurus
who hate Vector and who don't want to bother about it and recommend
everyone to stay with Monobook. (Although my attitude may seem
negative, i actually belong to the first camp.) The situation is
similar in the Russian Wikipedia.
As the community in various languages and the translation community have
been the major force in supporting rolling out major changes to the
sites, I will be reaching out to the translation community for
translating the announcements, FAQ, and the feedback page to set-up the
structure. Appointing ambassadors (rather than czars :-)) would be a
great idea, and and it will be crucial for language communities who
don't have strong presence or the communications channels to meta or to
the various discussions which are taking place in English.
4. Finally, does the Foundation plan to gather any
other feedback from
other language Wikipedias except the "Beta retention rate"?
We make decisions and adjustment on new features not only based on the
beta retention rate[1], but also the feedback submitted from various
language and project communities[2], and we set-up discussion board in
Village Pump, Admin' noticeboard, and project specific feedback page
prior to the switch and for the post-switch support[3].
[1]
http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Beta_Feedback_Survey
[2]
http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Beta_Feedback_Survey/User_Comments
[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:User_experience_feedback
Thanks again for your active involvement and contribution in advocating
the support for non-English communities and users, especially for
bringing attentions to right-to-left languages.
- Naoko
User Experience Programs, WMF
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