On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 9:59 AM, Gergo Tisza <[email protected]> wrote:

>    - instead of guessing about user preferences, you could just create a
>    simple survey which shows them the same text with two different font
> stacks
>    side by side, and ask them which is more readable. This is good for
> making
>    aesthetic decisions more objective, and also for catching weird issues
> with
>    old machines, CJK fonts etc: you can add a comment field to the survey,
> and
>    if the browser is sufficiently modern to support canvas elements, you
> can
>    even save a snapshot if the rendered text; you can skim through the
> survey
>    replies which are different from what you have expected, and look for
>    display problems.
>

Are you volunteering to build such a survey tool? ;-)

We don't have a powerful/easy to use/not annoying/privacy-respecting survey
tool that can do side-by-side comparisons. This is why the feature was
launched using Beta Features for five months first. Putting out in opt-in
mode and gathering feedback via the channels we have now is the most
efficient way to make a change that doesn't have a big WMF team assigned to
like Multimedia or VisualEditor.

When it comes to using a survey to catch problems early and gauging
preferences, a survey still very much suffers from the self-selection bias
that all opt-in options have. It's just the name of the game. When you move
something from opt-in to opt-out you reach a wider audience and encounter
new complaints/questions/bugs.
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