Hi everyone,
*tl;dr: We'll be stripping all content contained inside brackets from the
first sentence of articles in the Wikipedia app.*
The Mobile Apps Team is focussed on making the app a beautiful and engaging
reader experience, and trying to support use cases like wanting to look
something up quickly to find what it is. Unfortunately, there are several
aspects of Wikipedia at present that are actively detrimental to that goal.
One example of this are the lead sentences.
As mentioned in the other thread on this matter
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mobile-l/2015-March/008715.html>,
lead sentences are poorly formatted and contain information that is
detrimental to quickly looking up a topic. The team did a quick audit
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/spreadsheets/d/1BJ7uDgzO8IJT0M3UM2q…>
of
the information available inside brackets in the first sentences, and
typically it is pronunciation information which is probably better placed
in the infobox rather than breaking up the first sentence. The other
problem is that this information was typically inserted and previewed on a
platform where space is not at a premium, and that calculation is different
on mobile devices.
In order to better serve the quick lookup use case, the team has reached
the decision to strip anything inside brackets in the first sentence of
articles in the Wikipedia app.
Stripping content is not a decision to be made lightly. People took the
time to write it, and that should be respected. We realise this is
controversial. That said, it's the opinion of the team that the problem is
pretty clear: this content is not optimised for users quickly looking
things up on mobile devices at all, and will take a long time to solve
through alternative means. A quicker solution is required.
The screenshots below are mockups of the before and after of the change.
These are not final, I just put them together quickly to illustrate what
I'm talking about.
- Before: http://i.imgur.com/VwKerbv.jpg
- After: http://i.imgur.com/2A5PLmy.jpg
If you have any questions, let me know.
Thanks,
Dan
--
Dan Garry
Associate Product Manager, Mobile Apps
Wikimedia Foundation
Cross post.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Adam Baso <abaso(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 11:29 AM
Subject: CREDIT showcase - replacing with smaller demos
To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hello -
I'm writing today to let you know that we're cancelling the recurring
CREDIT showcase (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/CREDIT_showcase). Turnout
has been relatively low for a while, and it requires a fair amount of setup
each month.
Going forward, we'll return to the previous approach, which was having
individual teams sharing demo videos on their own. Please be on the lookout
for such demos along the way on wikitech-l.
In closing, I'd like to thank everyone who's participated in CREDIT in the
past. I've appreciated all of the hard work that goes into planning these
events and the neat things you've all shared along the way.
Thank you.
-Adam
apparently this didn't reach mobile-l
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Stephane Coillet-Matillon <stephane(a)kiwix.org>
Date: Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 12:38 AM
Subject: [Offline-l] Wikimed Mini release
To: mobile-l <mobile-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Using Wikimedia projects and
MediaWiki offline <offline-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
[Cross-post]
A quick note to announce that Kiwix released this morning a new version of
the Wikimed App called Wikimed Mini [1]. It basically complements the
earlier app in that it is 90% smaller and should therefore make it easier
to download and store by users who need it most (50% of installs for the
English version happen on the Indian subcontinent; for the French one, 80%
are in Africa).
But apart from this PSA I wanted to share the thinking that went behind the
design of this particular app, as I’ve been told it could be of interest to
this list:
There basically were three reasons for this "mini" version:
1. When connectivity is an issue, size does matter. If you look at the 20+
main offline medical apps out there, you'll see that they all range in the
25-40Mb (the largest being 120Mb). Several of them have 1M+ downloads, and
even if I am no physician I'd say their content is rather minimal and that
WP content is far better: yet people download the other, smaller apps
rather than our gigantic, all-encompassing 1.2 Gb one;
2. You may have heard that thing about 60% of mobile readers not going past
the Lead section [2]. We did too, and took the drastic step of removing
everything below that - basically keeping only the lead part and infobox.
That saved us about 60%;
3. Then we looked at what was left and figured that infobox illustrations
weren't that helpful: either because they look good but are not very
informative, or because if they are in fact informative offline limitations
make it impossible to see more than a thumbnail. Don't get me wrong: the
ability to see high-res images comes high on the list of requests, but a
choice was to be made and that one was a low-hanging fruit. So we removed
the illustations as well, and now we're left with a 90% smaller app.
In spite of its size, the current Wikimed is rated higher (4.7) and kept
longer (75% retention at D30) that most apps (4.2/20%, respectively on
average): we’ll keep you posted on how the new app fares in comparison to
that.
Cheers,
Stephane
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.
kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedmini
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Which_parts_
of_an_article_do_readers_read
_______________________________________________
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l
Cross post.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Danny Horn <dhorn(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Wed, Aug 23, 2017 at 1:58 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Global preferences: request for feedback
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hi everyone,
The Community Tech team is currently working on Global preferences, the #4
wish from the 2016 Community Wishlist Survey, and we've got a question for
folks who are interested in using the feature.
We're adapting an extension developed by Legoktm, updating the code and
making some changes to the interface. There'll be a new special page,
Special:GlobalPreferences, where you'll be able to set a preference on all
wikis at once. There's more description and screenshots on the project
page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech/Global_preferences
Our question is about how people might use local overrides for the global
preferences -- setting a preference as global, but making an exception for
one or more wikis. If that sounds like the kind of thing you would have an
opinion about :), then please check out this section:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech/Global_
preferences#For_discussion:_Local_overrides
and leave some feedback on the talk page. Of course, you can also feel free
to post any questions, suggestions or comments about the feature. Thanks!
Danny Horn
Senior Product Manager
WMF Community Tech
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
Hello,
This morning the WMF's iOS app team pushed an initial beta of our upcoming
minor release to our TestFlight users. This update includes:
- various small fixes and refinements to the dark reading appearance,
especially for some tables and templates
- fix for occasional crash while switching languages while reading an
article
- added swipe to share or save search results right from the search
results screen
- volunteer contributed Featured Article Widget for the iOS Today screen
If you're already a tester, please install this update and let us know if
you encounter any issues.
Or, if you'd like to become a beta tester please sign up here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfW7zFnUDYABvHLWlFclZ7OJEK82WjVIjs…
Thanks,
Josh Minor
PM, Wikipedia app for iOS
Hi all,
please find at [1] the slide deck from the recent quarterly metrics
presentation of the Wikimedia Foundation's Readers team (an appendix
to the main quarterly check-in presentation that also has just been
posted [2]). It gives an overview over core metrics regarding
readership of Wikimedia sites, now also including data about search
provided by the Discovery team.
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Readers_metric…
[2] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2017-August/088575.html
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Analyst
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
Hello mobile Wikimedians,
Today we've released a *major* update of the Wikipedia app to the app
store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238?mt=8
This update includes our most requested feature: dark reading mode!
Its just one of several new appearance options, including dark and sepia
color modes, image dimming and convenient screen brightness control.
This release also includes a new "On this day" card in the Explore feed for
four initial languages (English, German, French and Swedish). On this day
is built on the rich anniversary pages[1] and selected anniversaries[2]
available on many Wikipedias, to highlight important events that occurred
on this date. Tap through for a timeline view and swipe back through
history!
The update also includes a small sticker pack for iMessage. We worked with
the Wikimedia Foundation's Communications team to create a set of public
domain stickers[3], so you can send wiki memes in texts. Now you can tell
your friends "citation needed!" in a group chat :)
Thanks to our testers and translators. And mega thanks to users yangand and
julbod for their code patches.
Thanks,
Josh Minor
PM, Wikipedia app for iOS
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historical_anniversaries
[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Selected_anniversaries/All
[3] - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_digital_stickers
Crossposting!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Lani Goto <lgoto(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Wed, Jul 26, 2017 at 11:18 AM
Subject: CREDIT showcase, Wednesday 2-August-2017
To: wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Hi!
I'd like to welcome you to join us at the CREDIT showcase next week,
Wednesday, 2-August-2017 at 1800 UTC / 1100 Pacific Time. We'd like to see
your demos, whether they're rough works in progress or polished production
material, or even just a telling of something you've been studying
recently. For more information on the upcoming event, as well as recordings
of previous events, please visit the following page:
<http://goog_1968694156/>
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/CREDIT_showcase
And if you'd like to share the news about the upcoming CREDIT showcase,
here's some suggested verbiage. Thanks!
*Hi <FNAME>*
*I hope all is well with you! I wanted to let you know about CREDIT, a
monthly demo series that we’re running to showcaseopen source tech projects
from Wikimedia’s Community, Reading, Editing, Discovery, Infrastructure and
Technology teams. *
*CREDIT is open to the public, and we welcome questions and discussion. The
next CREDIT will be held on August 2nd at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 18:00 UTC. *
*There’s more info on MediaWiki, and on Etherpad, which is where we take
notes and ask questions. You can also ask questions on IRC in the Freenode
chatroom #wikimedia-office (web-based access here). Links to video will
become available at these locations shortly before the event.*
*Please feel free to pass this information along to any interested folks.
Our projects tend to focus on areas that might be of interest to folks
working across the open source tech community: language detection,
numerical sort, large data visualizations, maps, and all sorts of other
things.*
*If you have any questions, please let me know! Thanks, and I hope to see
you at CREDIT.*
*YOURNAME*
--
Lani Goto
Project Assistant, Engineering Admin
--
Lani Goto
Project Assistant, Engineering Admin
