Revamped Wikipedia app for Android now live!

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Dan Garry

25 Jun 2014 25 Jun '14

6:28 p.m.

Hi everyone, If you love Wikipedia and have an Android phone, you’re in for a treat! Today we’ve released a revamped Wikipedia for Android app, now available on Google Play <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.wikipedia>. Our new features include: - *Speed* – Our new, native app allows you to browse and edit Wikipedia faster than ever before. - *Editing* – You can edit Wikipedia on the app. Logged in or logged out, we thank you for all your contributions. - *Recent pages* – We provide you with your reading history, so you can tap as many links as you like without ever getting lost. - *Saved pages* – You can save select pages for offline reading and browse them even when you don’t have a data connection. - *Share* – Use your existing social networking apps to share in the sum of all human knowledge. - *Language support* – The app allows you to seamlessly switch to reading Wikipedia written in any language. - *Wikipedia Zero* – We’ve partnered with cellular carriers around the world to provide Wikipedia free of data charges to users in many developing areas. Coming soon: - *Night mode* – We’ve gotten lots of great beta user feedback; one feature people love is reading Wikipedia in darker environments. The inverted colour scheme offered by night mode will make that much easier. - *Discussions* – Talk pages are an important part of Wikipedia for both new users and experienced editors alike. We’re bringing them to the app. This release is just the beginning! We’re still working hard on creating new features to make the app the best Wikipedia reading and editing experience out there. Please help us improve this app by sending a note to our mailing list, mobile-android-wikipedia(a)wikimedia.org. Thank you! Dan -- Dan Garry Associate Product Manager for Platform and Mobile Apps Wikimedia Foundation

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Brion Vibber

25 Jun 25 Jun

6:35 p.m.

Congratulations to the Mobile Apps Android team on their first release of the new app! iPhone users, rest assured we're hard at work polishing up the iOS version, which brings the same updated feature set. Expect it in the next few weeks... -- brion On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 11:28 AM, Dan Garry <dgarry(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

Sage Ross

7:07 p.m.

For those without Google Play access or who otherwise prefer sideloading, here's the APK you can install directly: https://releases.wikimedia.org/mobile/android/wikipedia/stable/wikipedia-2.… -Sage On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 2:28 PM, Dan Garry <dgarry(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

Miguel García

7:18 p.m.

Great work! However, I will miss the amazing feature that allowed finding close articles by location. Any plans for restore this feature? :_( El 25/06/2014 21:07, "Sage Ross" <ragesoss+wikipedia(a)gmail.com> escribió:

...

Wikipedia

faster than ever before. - *Editing* – You can edit Wikipedia on the app. Logged in or logged out, we thank you for all your contributions. - *Recent pages* – We provide you with your reading history, so you

can

tap as many links as you like without ever getting lost. - *Saved pages* – You can save select pages for offline reading and browse them even when you don’t have a data connection. - *Share* – Use your existing social networking apps to share in the

sum

of all human knowledge. - *Language support* – The app allows you to seamlessly switch to reading Wikipedia written in any language. - *Wikipedia Zero* – We’ve partnered with cellular carriers around the world to provide Wikipedia free of data charges to users in many

developing

areas. Coming soon: - *Night mode* – We’ve gotten lots of great beta user feedback; one feature people love is reading Wikipedia in darker environments. The inverted colour scheme offered by night mode will make that much

easier.

- *Discussions* – Talk pages are an important part of Wikipedia for

both

new users and experienced editors alike. We’re bringing them to the

app.

This release is just the beginning! We’re still working hard on creating new features to make the app the best Wikipedia reading and editing experience out there. Please help us improve this app by sending a note to our mailing list, mobile-android-wikipedia(a)wikimedia.org. Thank you! Dan -- Dan Garry Associate Product Manager for Platform and Mobile Apps Wikimedia Foundation _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:

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Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,

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Andy Mabbett

10:14 p.m.

On 25 June 2014 20:18, Miguel García <miguelgarcia(a)wikimedia.org.es> wrote:

...

I will miss the amazing feature that allowed finding close articles by location. Any plans for restore this feature?

I came here to say the same thing. I can't believe this has been removed; nor that its removal came as a surprise. -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

Dan Garry

11:11 p.m.

Hi Andy, The new app was built in native code from the ground up. So the nearby feature wasn't removed as much as it was never implemented. I apologise if I sound pedantic, but this distinction is important; for the initial release of the new app, we focussed on the barebones features that we needed to have included as much as we possibly could while still getting this out of the door. The nearby feature didn't bubble up in importance as much as the others. Right now, the most requested item in our feedback channels by far is a dark mode for night time reading. The number of requests for that are at least an order of magnitude larger than requests for any other feature, so we're focussing our efforts on that. But nearby is definitely on our roadmap. Thanks! Dan On 25 June 2014 15:14, Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:

...

On 25 June 2014 20:18, Miguel García <miguelgarcia(a)wikimedia.org.es> wrote:

I will miss the amazing feature that allowed finding close articles by location. Any plans for restore this feature?

I came here to say the same thing. I can't believe this has been removed; nor that its removal came as a surprise. -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

-- Dan Garry Associate Product Manager for Platform and Mobile Apps Wikimedia Foundation

Andy Mabbett

26 Jun 26 Jun

1:07 a.m.

The distinction is false. I have not (and more to the point, the many users who know nothing about our internal workings will not have) installed a "new" app; I have upgraded an existing app. There was no mention in the list of changes, and no warning elsewhere, that this extremely useful functionality would disappear from my device when I did so. On Jun 26, 2014 12:11 AM, "Dan Garry" <dgarry(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

On 25 June 2014 20:18, Miguel García <miguelgarcia(a)wikimedia.org.es> wrote:

I will miss the amazing feature that allowed finding close articles by location. Any plans for restore this feature?

-- Dan Garry Associate Product Manager for Platform and Mobile Apps Wikimedia Foundation _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Samuel Klein

25 Jun 25 Jun

10:29 p.m.

This is looking great. Editing on the new app has been working very well for me. Except that my mobile operator's IP is often blocked and not allowed to create accounts on en:wp ...

...

Please help us improve this app by sending a note to our mailing list,

mobile-android-wikipedia(a)wikimedia.org. Not mobile-l ? Is the above a private list? Sam.

Alex Monk

10:53 p.m.

On 25 June 2014 23:29, Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Please help us improve this app by sending a note to our mailing list,

mobile-android-wikipedia(a)wikimedia.org. Not mobile-l ? Is the above a private list?

All lists are @lists.wikimedia.org. This address points to an OTRS queue (specifically, "mobile::Android (Wikipedia)").

Dan Garry

10:58 p.m.

Responses in-line. On 25 June 2014 15:29, Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Except that my mobile operator's IP is often blocked and not allowed to create accounts on en:wp ...

Indeed. There's not really much we can do about that, unfortunately. However, the IP ranges for mobile operators are typically softblocked, so if you have an account you can log in and use that to edit.

...

Not mobile-l ? Is the above a private list?

mobile-android-wikipedia(a)wikimedia.org points to an OTRS queue which makes it much easier for us to manage the feedback. We're trying to keep all the feedback in one channel so that we don't lose anything. Dan -- Dan Garry Associate Product Manager for Platform and Mobile Apps Wikimedia Foundation

Andy Mabbett

26 Jun 26 Jun

1:12 a.m.

I've just made my first edit. Unless I missed something, there was no way to enter an edit summary. This is troubling in itself, but it is also at odds with the WMF's new terms of use, which require disclosure of paid edits, and suggest that that can be made in edit summaries (among other options, equally unavailable in the app). On Jun 25, 2014 11:29 PM, "Samuel Klein" <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

This is looking great. Editing on the new app has been working very well for me. Except that my mobile operator's IP is often blocked and not allowed to create accounts on en:wp ...

Please help us improve this app by sending a note to our mailing list,

mobile-android-wikipedia(a)wikimedia.org. Not mobile-l ? Is the above a private list? Sam. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Erik Moeller

1:14 a.m.

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 6:12 PM, Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:

...

I've just made my first edit. Unless I missed something, there was no way to enter an edit summary.

I think you did (miss something). It gives you canned summaries "Fixed typo", "Fixed grammar", "Added links", and an "Other" option. If you select "Other", you can provide your own summary. -- Erik Möller VP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation

Sage Ross

1:16 a.m.

On Jun 25, 2014 9:12 PM, "Andy Mabbett" <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:

...

I've just made my first edit. Unless I missed something, there was no way to enter an edit summary.

You can enter an edit summary. Either choose one of the predefined options for how you improved the page, or pick "other" to enter a manual edit summary. -Sage

Andy Mabbett

1:57 a.m.

On Jun 26, 2014 2:16 AM, "Sage Ross" <ragesoss+wikipedia(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

On Jun 25, 2014 9:12 PM, "Andy Mabbett" <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote: > > I've just made my first edit. Unless I missed something, there was no

way

...

to enter an edit summary.

You can enter an edit summary. Either choose one of the predefined options for how you improved the page, or pick "other" to enter a manual edit summary.

Where?

Brion Vibber

2:18 a.m.

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 6:57 PM, Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:

...

On Jun 26, 2014 2:16 AM, "Sage Ross" <ragesoss+wikipedia(a)gmail.com> wrote:

You can enter an edit summary. Either choose one of the predefined

options

for how you improved the page, or pick "other" to enter a manual edit summary.

Where?

Since phone screens are small, you may have noticed that the editing process is broken up over a couple of separate steps. The preview stage gives you a chance to select some 'canned' brief edit summaries, or select 'other' and input your own. Here's a screen recording I just made of the process: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/File:Adding_an_edit_summary_in_Wikipedia_And… -- brion

Andy Mabbett

10:22 a.m.

On 26 June 2014 03:18, Brion Vibber <bvibber(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 6:57 PM, Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote: > On Jun 26, 2014 2:16 AM, "Sage Ross" <ragesoss+wikipedia(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > You can enter an edit summary. Either choose one of the predefined > options > > for how you improved the page, or pick "other" to enter a manual edit > > summary. > > Where?

...

Since phone screens are small, you may have noticed that the editing process is broken up over a couple of separate steps.

Of course.

...

The preview stage gives you a chance to select some 'canned' brief edit summaries, or select 'other' and input your own. Here's a screen recording I just made of the process: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/File:Adding_an_edit_summary_in_Wikipedia_And…

Thank you. I didn't see the options (buttons) for pre-selected summaries, nor the "Other" option. On further experimentation, they are hidden above the top of the screen, and I need to scroll up to see them. I'm using the native browser on an Android 2.3.5 device. [As a matter of interest, what software did you use to capture the video?] -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

Jan Ainali

11:02 a.m.

2014-06-26 12:22 GMT+02:00 Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk>uk>:

...

On 26 June 2014 03:18, Brion Vibber <bvibber(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 6:57 PM, Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk wrote:

Then you are not using the app that this thread is talking about? /Jan

Andy Mabbett

1:51 p.m.

On 26 June 2014 12:02, Jan Ainali <jan.ainali(a)wikimedia.se> wrote:

...

> I'm using the native browser on an Android 2.3.5 device.

...

Then you are not using the app that this thread is talking about?

Doh! Sorry, I'm using *the app* under Android 2.3.5. -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

Brion Vibber

3:28 p.m.

On Thu, Jun 26, 2014 at 3:22 AM, Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:

...

The preview stage gives you a chance to select some 'canned' brief edit summaries, or

select

'other' and input your own. Here's a screen recording I just made of the process:

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/File:Adding_an_edit_summary_in_Wikipedia_And… Thank you. I didn't see the options (buttons) for pre-selected summaries, nor the "Other" option. On further experimentation, they are hidden above the top of the screen, and I need to scroll up to see them. I'm using the native browser on an Android 2.3.5 device.

Aha -- I can confirm this on my old Nexus One running 2.3.7. Looks like it's jumping down when the preview shows up... and there's a couple other oddities in there. I've filed a bug: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=67135 -- this'll go into the team's todo list. Thanks for the report!

...

[As a matter of interest, what software did you use to capture the video?]

Android 4.4 includes a built-in screen recording tool; unfortunately it's hidden on the *command line* so you have to use the developer tools to trigger it on an unrooted phone. :) ('adb shell' then run 'screenrecord' with appropriate options.) -- brion

Andy Mabbett

1:19 a.m.

On Jun 25, 2014 7:28 PM, "Dan Garry" <dgarry(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

If you love Wikipedia and have an Android phone, you’re in for a treat!

Sections are no longer collapsed on opening a page. This makes it harder to reach the latter sections of long articles, and presents the reader with a mobile-unfriendly "wall of text". Can this be configurable (akin to some browser's "privacy" mode)?

...

- *Night mode* – We’ve gotten lots of great beta user feedback; one feature people love is reading Wikipedia in darker environments. The inverted colour scheme offered by night mode will make that much

easier. I don't doubt that astronomers and the like would prefer red-on-black.

Andy Mabbett

1:21 a.m.

Apologies; my "can this be configurable" question was in reply to the point on browsing history. On Jun 26, 2014 2:19 AM, "Andy Mabbett" <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:

...

On Jun 25, 2014 7:28 PM, "Dan Garry" <dgarry(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

If you love Wikipedia and have an Android phone, you’re in for a treat!

easier. I don't doubt that astronomers and the like would prefer red-on-black.

Brion Vibber

1:26 a.m.

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 6:19 PM, Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:

...

With the new generation of the app we've gone with a table of contents menu in place of the confusing auto-collapsing of sections (which required individually opening every section in turn for a full read, and was still hard to scroll back *up* somewhere). There's a button on the toolbar to open the table of contents; from there you can jump immediately to any section. -- brion

Jon Davies

8:40 a.m.

Thanks Dab - downloaded. The 'night mode' or 'under the blankets' seems a good idea. On 25 June 2014 19:28, Dan Garry <dgarry(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

-- *Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK*. Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169 tweet @jonatreesdavies Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990. Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk

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participants (10)

Alex Monk
Andy Mabbett
Brion Vibber
Dan Garry
Erik Moeller
Jan Ainali
Jon Davies
Miguel García
Sage Ross
Samuel Klein