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 -- Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
