Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Frequently asked questions - MediaWiki

Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Frequently asked questions - MediaWiki
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Reading
Web
Desktop Improvements
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Overview
Features
Repository
FAQ
Let's change it
How to disable or enable
How to customise
Contact and basic information
Contact
The basics
Scope of the project
Design and audiences
Target audience
Mobile, large screens, and responsiveness
The individual features
Content width
Language links
Table of contents
How to disable or enable Vector 2022?
edit source
How can I disable or enable it just for me on one or all Wikimedia wikis?
edit source
First of all, check if you're logged in. Logged-out users are not able to change the skins.
One wiki
All wikis
Disable
Either click on the
⧼vector-opt-out⧽
link in the sidebar
Or go to the
user preferences
Open the
Appearance
tab
Check
Vector legacy (2010)
Go to the
global preferences
Open the
Appearance
tab
Check the box to the left
Check
Vector legacy (2010)
Enable
Go to the
user preferences
Open the
Appearance
tab
Check
Vector (2022)
Go to the
global preferences
Open the
Appearance
tab
Check the box to the left
Check
Vector (2022)
Showing the setting to enable/disable Vector legacy (the interface without our improvements)
Showing the opt-out button in the left sidebar
Detail of the opt-out button
See also:
Why do you use this naming: Vector 2022 and legacy Vector?
Why is the opt-out link not available for logged-out users?
edit source
This is because of the limited capability of our servers. The logged-out users can use browser extensions allowing them to personalise their interface, or they can create an account.
See also:
Why are there no preferences for anonymous users?
How can Vector 2022 become the default for all on my home Wikimedia wiki?
edit source
. We'll present the project to your community and start the discussion.
How can I enable it on my own/personal wiki?
edit source
If you would like to see our changes,
Make sure you have downloaded
MediaWiki 1.39
Add following lines in your
LocalSettings.php
$wgDefaultSkin
'vector-2022'
We are glad to learn that you appreciate our improvements!
How to customise Vector 2022?
edit source
Why don't you provide preferences to choose between different versions of the features?
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That would be too complicated to maintain and develop.
Each preference is like a crossroad where users can choose between options.
Many choices indicate many combinations.
Preferences would make us responsible for all the combinations.
We would have to maintain them, and also, in the case of building new features, check if the features are compatible with each of the combinations. We can't afford that.
Instead, we give the communities the option to create gadgets, user scripts, and individual settings.
As always, we provide the space for bottom-up creativity, and help technical users to maintain their code.
See also:
Just make it a user preference
Why are there no preferences for anonymous users?
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This was our answer in 2019–2023. In 2023 though, we worked on
Preference persistence for anonymous users
. This was to build this capacity within limitations described below.
Anonymous preferences would make the pages load too slowly.
Most traffic comes from logged-out users.
To handle that, we have a few "caching servers" which only save and send "snapshots" of web pages.
These "snapshots" are
up to 7 days old
, are a replacement for generating web pages, and are the same for all logged-out users.
This allows us to serve pages quickly.
Preferences require generating different versions of web pages.
Making this possible for logged-out users would overload our servers.
We don't want to do that also because we need to reduce cache
fragmentation
The only possible way of providing preferences for logged-out users now is making the settings load always after the page.
This takes
much more time to load
and looks odd.
For example, if a logged-out user was to see the dark mode in action, then immediately after loading each page, they would first see the light interface for a short moment, and then the interface would become dark.
For context, the only reason we have preferences for logged-in users is we don't serve the "snapshots" to them.
And this is because traffic coming from logged-in users is small.
See also:
How a new data center in Singapore is helping people access Wikipedia around the globe
Building DReaMeRS: How and why we opened a datacenter in France
Why performance matters
What do you do for editors who need specific tools and features?
edit source
We contact volunteers with technical skills to ensure backward compatibility. We ask them to check the code they have written, and offer help if the code needs changes.
We make it possible to configure and personalise our changes. We are happy to work with volunteers with technical skills who would like to create new gadgets and user scripts.
We do not replace the work of volunteers with technical skills. In principle, we do not make edits to templates or create new gadgets, but can advise when necessary.
Do you fix gadgets which aren't working with your changes?
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It depends.
We help volunteers fix gadgets and user scripts.
Sometimes, we fix these ourselves.
But in general, we work on MediaWiki itself.
Gadgets and user scripts are written and maintained by volunteers.
By the nature, these are always less stable and predictable.
If you are unsure on how to fix an issue with a script or gadget –
We'll do our best to give advice on potential fixes.
See also:
Tech on Meta-Wiki
– here you can ask for technical support as well
Stable interface policy/Frontend
– a policy defining what is stable and how we deprecate code
Recommendations for gadget developers on Wikimedia wikis
– recommendations for the roles and responsibilities related to gadgets and user scripts
What CSS classes should be used to customise Vector 2022?
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skin-vector-legacy
for Legacy Vector
skin-vector-2022
for Vector 2022
See also:
Loading Vector 2010 scripts
How to restore the full width?
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If your screen is at least 1400px wide, in the bottom corner, you should see a button
. Click it, and the full width will be restored.
You may also:
One wiki
All wikis
Go to the
user preferences
Open the
Appearance
tab
Uncheck
Enable limited width mode
Go to the
global preferences
Open the
Appearance
tab
Check the box to the left
Uncheck
Enable limited width mode
To reclaim further space at the page edges, add the following CSS code to your
global.css
mw-page-container
padding-left
2.25
em
padding-right
1.25
em
siteNotice
margin
See also:
Modifications of Vector 2022: new gadgets and user scripts
How to disable the sticky elements?
edit source
Add the following CSS code to
your global.css
Header – add
vector-sticky-header
display
none
;}
ToC – add
sidebar-toc
position
static
;}
How to restore the inline table of contents
edit source
Use the following JavaScript code:
document
querySelector
'meta[property="mw:PageProp/toc"]'
).
replaceWith
'#vector-toc, .mw-table-of-contents-container'
removeClass
'mw-sticky-header-element'
).
removeClass
'vector-toc.vector-pinnable-element'
).
removeAttr
'id'
removeClass
'mw-table-of-contents-container'
)[
].
querySelector
'ul'
).
cloneNode
true
'#vector-toc-pinned-container,#vector-page-titlebar-toc,#vector-sticky-header-toc'
).
remove
();
Note, the table of contents will not look like the old table of contents.
Additional CSS will be required for that, if necessary.
How to restore section numbering to the table of contents
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Add the contents of the following CSS code to your
global.css
User:Jdlrobson/vector-2022/tocNumbering.css
How to make the button with language links appear at the top of the main page?
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Ask your community to agree to set up the main page heading. (See our
explanation why this is a good idea
.)
The heading will be displayed in Vector 2010, Minerva, Timeless, and Vector 2022. It will not be visible in Monobook.
The heading can be configured by edits to
MediaWiki:Mainpage-title-loggedin
for logged in users and
MediaWiki:Mainpage-title
for logged out users. For mobile logged in users,
MediaWiki:wikimedia-mobile-mainpage-title-loggedin
is used. See the details about the main page heading settings.
Test what the main page looks like and work with the button at the top by adding the
?vectorlanguageinmainpageheader=1
parameter to the URL. See the
example on the Icelandic-language Wikipedia
. Note that the Icelandic-language Wikipedia hasn't the heading set up, so only the button appears.
and ask us to move the button to the top.
We will change the settings for your wiki.
When we do this, the button will be visible at the top of the page in Vector 2022. In other skins, the list with language links will be displayed in the standard place which varies by skin.
How to restore the previous user menu?
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It's not possible to do that currently.
How to change the logo to a temporary one?
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The logo in Vector 2022 is made of 3 elements, each can be changed independently with CSS.
To change the
icon
image (e.g. globe on Wikipedia):
mw-logo-icon
content
url
"INSERT NEW IMAGE URL HERE"
To change the
wordmark
(e.g. the word "Wikipedia"):
mw-logo-wordmark
content
url
"INSERT NEW IMAGE URL HERE"
To change the
tagline
(e.g. the words "The free encyclopedia"):
mw-logo-tagline
content
url
"INSERT NEW IMAGE URL HERE"
Contact
edit source
How can I contact your team?
edit source
Choose one of the following options:
Talk page of the main page of the project
(you can write in any language)
Phabricator task with the
Desktop Improvements project tag
Contact our Movement Communications Specialist:
SGrabarczuk (WMF)
sgrabarczuk
wikimedia.org
How can I follow your activities?
edit source
Subscribe to our newsletter
. Instead of messages on your talk page, you will be receiving notifications about the updates.
Watch our
Updates
and
Talk to Web
pages.
Do you host or attend online meetings?
edit source
Yes!
We organise
open online meetings for the communities
At these meetings, Olga (our product manager) makes presentations about the recent developments.
Next, community members can ask any questions about the project.
We are also open to invitation to any community event online.
These may be local, country-wide, or international meetings.
What are Vector 2022 and the Desktop Improvements?
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Is this a redesign?
edit source
No.
A redesign would be a single major change which affects how the site works.
In the case of this project we have made a series of individual changes.
Each
feature
was a separate small project.
At the end, these features were joined together by a cohesive visual design.
What is the timeline of this project?
edit source
We have been working on Vector 2022 (originally known as
modern Vector
) since 2019.
Between early 2020 and mid-2022, we were building and releasing different features on "early adopter" wikis.
(You can read more about that in the answer to the question below, points 2–4.)
We have finished that part.
Vector 2022 isn't "beta" anymore.
Currently, we inform about our intention to introduce Vector 2022 on all the wikis.
Why do you use the word Improvements?
edit source
The term
early adopter
is used in the English Wikipedia article
Technology adoption life cycle
Because we have data indicating that the changes are for the better:
We identified problems through research with both readers and editors
. During this phase, in 2019, we studied the way people used the sites and identified the largest usability issues. We also identified issues to exploring the site further, becoming more engaged with reading or editing. We did this by interviewing readers and editors across multiple countries, locations, and languages. See:
Research and design: Phase 1
Research and design: Phase 2
We built and tested prototypes
. We built out the ideas of each feature and began showing them to the users. Each feature was tested with readers and editors through interviews and wider rounds of prototype testing. For testing with editors, we used central notice banners. We displayed them across multiple language and Wikimedia projects so that we can get a wide and diverse audience. Each prototype was tested by approximately 200 editors on average. (
Example
We refined and built our features
. We took the feedback from the prototype testing and refined or changed the prototypes accordingly. In some cases, we asked for additional feedback to ensure we're making the right decisions.
We contacted various wikis asking to
join the
early adopters
("pilot wikis")
. This was the "
beta
" phase. On these wikis, we performed quantitative tests for whether each feature worked as expected.
We
performed A/B testing
on logged-in users. Unfortunately, we are not able to perform these on logged-out users. This is why we make before and after comparisons.
When we had the test results, we compared the results with the criteria of success we had previously defined. When we got negative results from our test, we changed the feature and test again.
Since this phase, we have also monitored usage across all wikis, where many account holders have already been using Vector 2022.
See also:
An encyclopedic article:
Iterative and incremental development
A blog post:
The iterative design of the Vector interface: the case of moving interlingual links
On which wikis have you tested these changes?
edit source
The pilot wikis where we have been testing Vector 2022 have been:
Latin script Wikipedias
Non-Latin script wikis
Sister projects
Arabic Wikisource
Yes
Yes
Moroccan Arabic Wikipedia
Yes
Bengali Wikipedia
Yes
Catalan Wikipedia
Yes
German Wikivoyage
Yes
Basque Wikipedia
Yes
Persian Wikipedia
Yes
French Wikipedia
Yes
French Wikiquote
Yes
French Wiktionary
Yes
Indonesian Wikipedia
Yes
Hebrew Wikipedia
Yes
Korean Wikipedia
Yes
Polish Wikinews
Yes
Polish Wikisource
Yes
Portuguese Wikinews
Yes
Portuguese Wikipedia
Yes
Portuguese Wikiversity
Yes
Serbian Wikipedia
Yes
Yes
Thai Wikipedia
Yes
Turkish Wikipedia
Yes
Venetian Wikipedia
Yes
Vietnamese Wikibooks
Yes
Vietnamese Wikipedia
Yes
Why do you use this naming: Vector 2022 and legacy Vector?
edit source
The new skin is a continuation of many of the ideas in the original Vector skin.
It is being built using the code the Vector skin uses.
We wanted to maintain functional and visual continuity.
Everything built and meant for legacy Vector should be working with our changes, or can be configured to do so fairly easily.
The version built in 2010 and developed until 2019 has been frozen.
In other words, we will keep and maintain it, but will not be building new features for it.
We use the name Vector 2022 for purely technical reasons.
This name marks when the new Vector was available to third-party wikis as a new skin.
(Third parties mean those who install MediaWiki).
On each wiki, the skin name can be overriden by changing
MediaWiki:Skinname-vector-2022
However, this may cause confusion since it won't change the associated skin key that is used for site and user styles.
See also:
What CSS classes should be used to customise Vector 2022?
Will you remove legacy Vector?
edit source
No.
Legacy Vector will continue to be available as an option in Preferences, similar to other skins that have been default in the past, such as Monobook.
Target audience
edit source
Are these changes made for readers, and not for editors?
edit source
Not exactly.
Our team (
Web
) works on the reading (viewing) experience on desktop and mobile browsers.
Those who both view and edit, and those who view but do not edit, are one large group of the interface users.
We work for all of them, bearing in mind that new and advanced editors have specific needs.
The goal of this project is to improve the reading experience on desktop without making editing more difficult.
That said, our
movement strategy recommendations
implore us to improve our user experience in an inclusive manner.
In this spirit, the project has a specific goal of ensuring the free knowledge grows equitably in the future.
When building, we made sure to collect the voices of readers from different demographics and geographies.
We also wanted to make their opinions a focus when defining what we were to work on, and evaluating whether a given idea was able to satisfy their needs.
See also:
What do you do to ensure that the change is not half-finished?
What do you do for editors who need specific tools and features?
Past projects of the Web team
What tools are the Foundation building for editors?
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At the Foundation, there are other teams working on projects dedicated specifically to editors.
Among them, there are:
Community Tech
– working on projects selected by the communities during the
Community Wishlist Survey
Editing
– working on the
discussion tools
Growth
– working on the
Newcomer experience
project
Moderator Tools
– focusing on the moderation needs of medium-sized Wikimedia projects
Trust and Safety Product
– working on tools for stewards, CUs, administrators, and other anti-vandalism patrollers
Do your changes have a negative effect on the editing statistics?
edit source
No.
We collect statistics of the editing activity on all wikis.
Compared to wikis with Vector legacy (2010) as the default, on wikis with Vector 2022 as the default, there are no negative differences.
Do your changes make it more difficult to explore the community side of the wikis?
edit source
No.
Readers and new editors are intimidated by large numbers of links, options, and ways of exploring the editing (in other words, the community) side of the Wikimedia projects.
This is a finding of our research.
We want more users to join the communities.
We do this by limiting the number of the unhidden links, and bringing additional focus on the most relevant ones.
All this is done in collaboration with the
Growth
and
Editing
teams.
See also:
Core Experiences
UX Myth #12: More choices and features result in higher satisfaction
Are you focused on Wikipedia articles?
edit source
Yes.
Wikipedia articles, as a whole, have the most part of the viewership and readership compared to other
namespaces
on Wikipedia or any other projects.
We also make adjustments to pages from other namespaces and special pages.
Pages which we have made special adjustments and configurations for include: main pages, pages specific to some sister projects, special pages, the
2010 wikitext editor
, the
2017 wikitext editor
, and the
Visual Editor
We have also been working with the Editing team to ensure that the
work they are doing for talk pages
aligns with our work, and that special configurations for talk pages are put in place.
Have you been mindful of sister projects?
edit source
Yes!
We aim to change the basic elements of the interface.
Most features work on the sister projects just as well as they improve Wikipedia.
We have made sure to test and build for different sister projects from the beginning of the project.
We still make adjustments to the default features where necessary.
Non-Wikipedia projects, such as French Wiktionary, were also a part of our partner communities since 2020.
We ensured we have had direct communication and feedback from them.
Regarding the adjustments, for example, on Wikisource, the limited width does not apply to the Page namespace provided by the
Proofread Page extension
Are you focused on English Wikipedia?
edit source
No.
We take into account the needs of various communities and test our changes across 30+ languages.
We are also inspired by the interface and gadgets built on various wikis, for example Korean and Vietnamese Wikipedias.
What do you do to ensure that the change would work on my wiki?
edit source
Research we make is relevant to all wikis and includes voices from many different languages and projects.
We gather and incorporate feedback from the communities. Most issues are relevant to all wikis.
How we adjust our changes to sister projects – go to "
Have you been mindful of sister projects?
What is our approach to gadgets – go "
What do you do for editors who need specific tools and features?
What do you do to ensure that the change is not half-finished?
edit source
We make tweaks both before and after we introduce the changes on wikis to make sure they are up to the needs for individual communities.
If you think your community would benefit from more adjustments and gadgets, see:
What do you do for editors who need specific tools and features?
How to customise Vector 2022?
After making these changes on all wikis, we will work on projects related to Desktop Improvements.
edit source
Have your changes been tested on users with disabilities?
edit source
Yes.
We are working with the American Foundation for the Blind.
We are asking various questions related to the accessibility of Vector 2022.
See more on Phabricator
Will the wikis be less accessible for users with slow Internet connection?
edit source
No.
We want to keep the new skin similarly code-heavy to legacy Vector.
See also:
How can I get both the old and the new table of contents?
Mobile, large screens, and responsiveness
edit source
Are the changes inspired by mobile design?
edit source
No.
These changes are created specifically for desktop interfaces.
All research and testing done for this project has been focused on desktop users only.
We have, however, considered the experiences of people who use desktop in narrower screens (for example, if you have two tabs open side by side).
At this time, we do not have plans to merge the desktop and mobile experiences.
Will the new interface be responsive?
edit source
We've been working towards that goal, but it's not an official goal of the project.
If you want to make the interface responsive now and you're using Wikimedia wikis, add the following to your
global.js
if
mw
config
get
"skin"
===
"vector-2022"
document
head
innerHTML
+=
''
If your community would like this to be the default, please start a conversation on your wiki, and
when consensus is reached.
We can then make the change.
Will you build a dedicated setting for high resolutions?
edit source
We don't have plans to build a specific setting at this time.
We want the experience to be optimised for the majority of users, while still providing the tools necessary at all resolutions.
We believe the current version of the new skin does this successfully.
That said, we encourage personal customisation!
See also:
What do you do for editors who need specific tools and features?
Why is the width of the content limited?
edit source
Why have you replaced the area used for content by an empty space?
edit source
Reading efficiently is crucial to most people using our projects.
Our goal here is to improve the readability of the content.
There are several factors that affect it – i.e. font size, contrast, font, line length, and empty space.
Shorter lines
When reading short lines, readers don't move their eyes too much, use the eye's muscles less intensively, thus avoiding eye strain.
Narrow paragraphs allow readers to memorise new information better.
On websites, there should be between 35 and 100 characters per line. Numbers closer to the smaller end are preferred.
The overwhelming number of major websites have similar limitations on content width. For example: academic journals like
Nature
, news websites like
The New York Times
, government and intergovernmental websites like the
United Nations
, academic documents like
LaTeX
, and word processors like
Google Docs
and
Etherpad
Empty (white) space
White space is used for the eyes' resting spots. It helps readers over the age of 60 focus on content and increases content comprehension by 20%.
People are able to focus more easily without the distraction of sidebars or other elements.
We are using some of this space for other functionality. We have made the
sidebar sticky
, and have placed the
table of contents
next to the content. Also, limiting the content area gives us new options for the more distant future. Community members have suggested to put infoboxes, images, or references there. As a separate project, we will consider ways of using this space.
See also:
UX Myth #28: White space is wasted space
Why can't we leave it for readers to narrow their browser windows down?
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Most users don't resize their browser windows or use browser plugins to improve the design of the websites they view.
What's more, most readers only stay on our websites for about 20 seconds. That's not enough to personalise the website.
Wikis should be good-looking immediately, in their basic form.
Some tables and templates don't fit within the limited width
edit source
We should make sure that all of our content is as responsive as possible to accommodate all visitors.
A large percentage of our users, who don't have large screens and are accessing Wikipedia from their laptops, already had issues with tables and templates even before the change.
Why don't you just make it a setting?
edit source
We want it to be default.
We are building a common experience that is shared between editors and readers.
This could be helpful to editors when making decisions about page layouts.
Currently an editor might be editing a page at a width of 1500px, while a reader reads it at a width of 1200px.
By implementing a limited width, we don't remove this discrepancy (because there would still be variation below the max-width, for people with narrower screens), however we would be greatly limiting the range of variation.
Note: 1024px is mentioned as a minimum size to consider in the
English Wikipedia Manual of Style
, though that's not quite the same thing.
Why did you change the list of language links?
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Why couldn't the list of language links stay in the sidebar?
edit source
Vector 2022 language switcher location
Because from the readers' perspective, the sidebar is not a place for useful links.
Most readers focus on the content area.
Links in the sidebar are practically hidden from their sight.
Also, we need to promote the variety of language versions of Wikimedia projects.
For more than 15 years, the list has been displayed in the sidebar.
The most active users have developed muscle memory to look for that list in that place.
This is why in the sidebar, we have placed a box with information about the language button being displayed in a new place.
Will the Wikidata links be closer to the list of language links?
edit source
Yes.
Add interlanguage links
Edit interlanguage links
, and
Wikidata item
will eventually be part of the menu activated by the language switching button ("language menu").
This is a task for the
Language engineering
team.
How to fix the coordinates displaying incorrectly near the languages button?
edit source
The recommended option
A different option (not recommended)
If on your wiki, the coordinates are placed by a Lua module (for example, on French Wikipedia, there's
Module:Coordinates
), use the following code:
titleText
frame
extensionTag
'indicator'
tostring
htmlTitle
),
name
'coordinates'
If on your wiki, the coordinates are placed by a template, follow the instructions on
Adding page status indicators
Use the absolute positioning in the MediaWiki:Common.css, for example:
skin-vector
skin-vector-legacy
coordinates
top
px
skin-vector
coordinates
top
-20
px
For those who prefer a working example, details on how this was fixed for English Wikipedia can be found here:
phab:T281974#8869238
Consider pages which use
page status indicators
, pages which have banners or site notices, and the look of the pages at lower resolutions.
Why doesn't the button with language links appear at the top of the main page?
edit source
We have discovered that readers focus on the content page and ignore the sidebar.
They will be more likely to switch between languages if the button with the language links appears at the top of the page, next to the heading.
On many wikis, headings on main pages are hidden.
This is why the button with language links isn't displayed next to it.
Instead, it's at the bottom of the main pages.
It is possible to make it appear at the top, though.
See also:
How to make the button with language links appear at the top of the main page?
Why did you change the table of contents?
edit source
Why doesn't the table of contents work well on my mobile device or when I resize the browser?
edit source
Users of Vector 2022 on mobile and resized browsers account for a small fraction of page traffic.
The majority of users receive the Minerva skin.
For narrow screens we the table of contents is available as a sticky interface element that's accessible from anywhere in the page.
Note what is displayed to mobile devices differs from what you see when you resize your browser.
On mobile devices, the site is currently presented as a zoomed out version of the desktop site.
This was specifically requested by editors as part of the feedback process.
Is it possible to change the label indicating the top of the page? (Beginning)
edit source
Yes.
This label should be distinct from the content headings.
To do that, wikis written in different scripts (for example, Latin and Japanese) and different Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia and Wiktionary) may need to use different words and/or punctuation marks in this label.
It is possible for each community to set up a label that would work just for them.
This may be done by editing the page
MediaWiki:Vector-toc-beginning
How can I get both the old and the new table of contents?
edit source
This isn't possible.
We intentionally do not add the old table of contents in addition to the new sidebar location.
It's a trade off.
We have taken it to reduce the work involved maintaining the code and keeping the site work as well as possible.
The old table of contents displayed in addition to the new one would have important technical disadvantages.
It would increase the overall size of HTML, increase the storage requirement for our parser cache, and require additional CSS to render.
See also:
How to restore the old table of contents
How do magic words work with this feature?
edit source
The
__TOC__
and
__FORCETOC__
magic words
do not work as the table of contents is always in the sidebar and this cannot be changed.
However, magic words relating to the presence of the table of contents, such as
__NOTOC__
, do work.
So do templates which then create an alternate ToC.
For example, an article can disable the default ToC and apply its own if necessary.
All magic words continue to work for other skins which render the ToC within the article.
My project's logo is incorrect. How do I fix this?
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We've done our best to ensure that your project logo is consistent between the Vector legacy and Vector 2022 skin. However, there is a chance we've overlooked something or had to make a hasty decision without consulting your community.
Notably in the case of various Wiktionary, Wikiversity, Wikibooks projects, we show the project default logo. This is because we couldn't derive a logo for Vector 2022 from the existing Vector legacy logo. Customisations that localise the logo to your languages are however available on request. More context on this can be found at
T341243
Any project can update its logo or request a change to its logo. It needs to follow the
Site request lifecycle
. Please do not comment on any existing task relating to logos.
What is the scope of the project?
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Are you changing Monobook or Timeless?
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No.
These changes are applied to Vector only.
Vector has been the default interface on Wikimedia wikis since 2010.
Any other skins such as
Monobook
Timeless
Minerva
or
Modern
are not be changed at all.
While working on Desktop Improvements, we did clean up the old skins' code, though.
We made it easier to roll out new changes to old skins, removed never used options, and removed 75% of the PHP code of these skins.
All this had no effect on the side users interact with.
See also:
How and why we moved our skins to Mustache
Are you improving charts, maps, a-/f-/o-/tmboxes, infoboxes, navboxes, and other templates?
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No.
We do not change anything within the light gray article content area (except for the table of contents):
Are you building the dark mode?
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Not as part of Desktop Improvements. In 2023, we started a project
Accessibility for reading
. Building dark mode is part of it.
What are the features' success metrics?
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Increase utility among our existing audiences, proxied by:
Interactions
Increase searches per session by 5% over the course of the project
Increase language switching per project by 5% over the course of the project
Affinity
Increase in positive and welcoming sentiments towards the site (via surveys and user testing)
Increase in sentiments of trust and credibility (measured via surveys and user testing)
As we define the changes we want to make with more specificity, we will expand and iterate on this list.
References
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UI Design Newsletter – December, 2005
, Human Factors International
Retrieved from "
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Desktop Improvements
Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Frequently asked questions
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