https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52817
--- Comment #24 from Scott Martin <[email protected]> --- I don't understand how clicking into Special:Preferences and then a subpage to set options for Special:SomePage is substantially less complicated than going to Special:SomePage and setting them there the first time you use it. Given that most changes to search options will be made on the fly during search experiences, requiring users to leave the special page, go into preferences and then come back (or change preferences in a new tab then reload the search) is a degradation of the UX. > Preferences are preferences, please keep them together not scattered around > the wiki. "The wiki" is a misunderstanding here. "Preferences" are operational modes for programs, and the special pages are a collection of small utility programs accompanying the core. There's no objective reason why their mode controls should be grouped together remotely with the core's. It's like having the windscreen wiper speed control as a switch on the engine instead of on the dashboard; old-school advanced users of that peculiarly-designed car may be fine with opening the hood to change it because "it's always been there", but that doesn't make doing it easy for everyone. A new car would seem particularly old-fashioned if it were still designed this way, and we should be trying to ensure that MediaWiki lives up to the interface design expectations of modern software. > Please produce the evidence base for this change. Pretty much every UX study ever that's shown that the further away you put a control from what it affects, the harder users find it to interact with, or even find in the first place - especially new users. It's the GUI-side version of [[Action at a distance (computer programming)]]. S (speaking only for myself, I'm not a MediaWiki developer) -- You are receiving this mail because: You are the assignee for the bug. You are on the CC list for the bug. _______________________________________________ Wikibugs-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikibugs-l
