Aim for workflow equivalence for MediaWiki on desktop and mobile web
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	• brion
	Feb 15 2017, 1:33 PM

Description

As mobile usage continues to increase, the strategy of putting some features only on desktop web and others only on mobile web will become a worse and worse user experience; users will expect things to be consistently available on mobile.

We should aim for workflow equivalence (not necessarily exact 1:1 feature equivalence) where a platform blocker does not prevent something from working in one or the other place. In many cases we can ship the same JS/CSS modules and make sure they work on both mobile and desktop skins/layouts, though some cases will still require some target-specific adjustments.

This doesn't necessarily mean always running the same code or using the same skin, though when suitable it's a good practice. (cf "responsive" and "mobile first" buzzwords :)

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Status	Subtype	Assigned	Task
			· · ·
Open		None	T158181 Aim for workflow equivalence for MediaWiki on desktop and mobile web
Open		None	T61207 Thanks given via mobile are not shown on desktop history page
Duplicate		None	T98491 TimedMediaHandler user experience is poor on mobile
Declined		None	T58817 Watchlist features available on desktop that aren't on mobile yet (tracking)
Declined		None	T69799 Mobile watchlist should follow the same Show/Hide preferences as the desktop watchlist
Resolved		Jdlrobson	T127268 Dismantle ResourceLoader's "targets" system
Duplicate		None	T49858 Enable jquery.tablesorter on mobile
Declined		None	T67078 Allow feedback for mobile beta features like Desktop
Open		None	T99003 (3) Fix up Special:Upload in mobile and desktop Minerva
Declined		None	T67983 toaster overlay for watchlisting is inconsistent between mobile and desktop
Declined		None	T89219 "Last modified..." text differs between desktop and mobile
Open		None	T148047 Desktop MediaWiki should be able to lazy load images
Open		None	T113844 Make the mobile edit conflict screen nicer to use
Declined		None	T144571 Mobile Media Viewer violates user settings
Open		Jdlrobson	T65504 Consolidate code for MediaViewer across desktop and mobile
Open		None	T124168 Show Navbox templates in mobile skins
Open		None	T123694 Allow mobile web edits to be marked as minor
Resolved		ovasileva	T133085 Graphs are broken by MobileFrontend's lazy loading image transformer
Resolved		None	T120755 Mobile-friendly framework for multi-column portal and project pages
Open		None	T72787 Tooltip notifications not implemented with mobile in mind
Resolved		Jdlrobson	T122305 [EPIC] Make Special:Contributions in core mobile friendly
Open	Feature	None	T148049 Make APISandbox useable on mobile
Declined		None	T144299 Dashboards working on mobile
Resolved		• brion	T62565 TMH totally broken on mobile
Resolved		TheDJ	T152841 Nowrap template not working on mobile site
Open		None	T95878 [Story] Make Wikidata editable on mobile web
Open		None	T94998 Make Share-a-fact available on desktop
Duplicate		None	T72142 Make minerva a presentable desktop skin (tracking)
Open		None	T145409 Have recently viewed articles section on desktop mediawiki and ideally sync with mobile app
Declined		None	T149487 MobileFrontend talk overlay URL's are being shared and do not resolve on desktop site
Resolved		Jdlrobson	T71366 [EPIC] Extract Minerva skin from MobileFrontend to its own repository
Duplicate		None	T160210 Collapse top template not working on mobile site
Duplicate		None	T174995 Link to talk / discussion page should indicate if page exists or not
Open		None	T24660 Display the categories on the mobile site for everyone
Open		None	T54165 Links to talk pages in mobile view for all anonymous users
Resolved		Nemo_bis	T93210 Set $wgMFEditorOptions['anonymousEditing'] = true by default for all wikis
Resolved		Maryana	T87508 Remove mobile editing "call to registration" CTA
Resolved		ovasileva	T137932 [EPIC] Mobile language switching improvement work II
Invalid		None	T68747 MobileFrontend does not display full page content like the desktop version.
Resolved		Jdlrobson	T63447 MobileFrontend user experience on Wiktionary is rough
Duplicate		None	T178194 Enable new RC on mobile
Open		None	T184221 Conflict between WikiHiero Egyptian hieroglyphs and Minerva
Open	Feature	None	T47955 Provide a navigation option (next/previous/index page) for proofread page in mobile view
Resolved		Jdlrobson	T138575 Title is ignored when curid is passed (RecentChanges hist link does not work)
Duplicate		None	T198724 Hatnote templates are under first paragraph on cswiki
Resolved		Jdlrobson	T201228 Make it possible to reach the page history from mobile diff
Declined		None	T206250 Remove wgCategories from mw.config
Duplicate		None	T208730 No way to edit page from mobile watchlist
Duplicate		None	T209042 No way to show the source code of locked template on mobile
Duplicate		None	T209210 Images with attribute "border" not showing border on mobile
Resolved		• ppelberg	T203151 Consider adding a button to let users edit the whole page in MobileFrontend
Resolved		Jdlrobson	T210168 [EPIC] Get rid of MobileFrontend's special pages for changes list where equivalents exist in core
Resolved		Jdlrobson	T251664 Disable auto-capitalization hint on search field of wikis with $wgCapitalLinks = false
Resolved		ovasileva	T163472 [EPIC] Provide a way to download articles in PDF on the mobile website
Open	Feature	None	T298174 Diffs should show change tags at lower resolutions
Open	Feature	None	T295979 Allow the source editor to work on old versions in mobile web view
Resolved		matmarex	T336001 Mobile post-edit notifications have two versions
Open		None	T356579 AMC cannot do negative filters with tags e.g. with watchlist
			· · ·

Event Timeline

There are a very large number of changes, so older changes are hidden. Show Older Changes

SamanthaNguyen awarded a token.Feb 18 2017, 4:46 AM

Volker_E subscribed.Feb 21 2017, 5:32 PM

Dvorapa subscribed.Mar 8 2017, 6:04 AM

TheDJ closed subtask T152841: Nowrap template not working on mobile site as Resolved.Mar 10 2017, 10:04 AM

Dvorapa added a subtask: T160210: Collapse top template not working on mobile site.Mar 10 2017, 10:43 PM

Paladox subscribed.Mar 16 2017, 9:15 PM

CKoerner_WMF mentioned this in T156659: Review "Wikimedia Foundation Technology and Product Q&A" from Dev Summit and create tasks to address.Mar 21 2017, 7:48 PM

Izno subscribed.Apr 4 2017, 5:21 PM

Jdlrobson closed subtask T67078: Allow feedback for mobile beta features like Desktop as Declined.Apr 13 2017, 8:25 PM

Jdlrobson moved this task from Epics/Goals to 2014-15 Q4 on the Web-Team-Backlog board.Apr 13 2017, 11:12 PM

Jdlrobson changed the status of subtask T149487: MobileFrontend talk overlay URL's are being shared and do not resolve on desktop site from Open to Stalled.Apr 17 2017, 11:03 PM

Jdlrobson closed subtask T89219: "Last modified..." text differs between desktop and mobile as Declined.May 21 2017, 11:36 AM

Jdlrobson closed subtask T69799: Mobile watchlist should follow the same Show/Hide preferences as the desktop watchlist as Declined.May 22 2017, 10:07 AM

Jdlrobson closed subtask T58817: Watchlist features available on desktop that aren't on mobile yet (tracking) as Declined.May 22 2017, 10:13 AM

Krinkle awarded a token.May 25 2017, 1:47 PM

Jdlrobson closed subtask T149487: MobileFrontend talk overlay URL's are being shared and do not resolve on desktop site as Declined.May 26 2017, 6:41 PM

Jdlrobson changed the status of subtask T144571: Mobile Media Viewer violates user settings from Open to Stalled.Jun 27 2017, 8:29 PM

Jdlrobson moved this task from 2014-15 Q4 to Tracking on the Web-Team-Backlog board.Jun 29 2017, 8:32 PM

Jdlrobson edited projects, added Web-Team-Backlog (Tracking); removed Web-Team-Backlog.

Jdlrobson moved this task from Untriaged to Discuss further on the Web-Team-Backlog (Tracking) board.

Jdlrobson removed projects: Web-Team-Backlog (Tracking), MobileFrontend.

Jdlrobson closed subtask T71366: [EPIC] Extract Minerva skin from MobileFrontend to its own repository as Resolved.Jul 18 2017, 10:40 PM

CKoerner_WMF awarded a token.Aug 24 2017, 6:54 PM

SamanthaNguyen unsubscribed.Aug 29 2017, 5:08 AM

Nemo_bis added a subtask: T174995: Link to talk / discussion page should indicate if page exists or not.Sep 5 2017, 8:21 AM

Nemo_bis added subtasks: T24660: Display the categories on the mobile site for everyone, T54165: Links to talk pages in mobile view for all anonymous users.

Nemo_bis subscribed.

Nemo_bis added subtasks: T93210: Set $wgMFEditorOptions['anonymousEditing'] = true by default for all wikis, T87508: Remove mobile editing "call to registration" CTA.Sep 5 2017, 8:26 AM

Nemo_bis added subtasks: T137932: [EPIC] Mobile language switching improvement work II, T68747: MobileFrontend does not display full page content like the desktop version., T63447: MobileFrontend user experience on Wiktionary is rough.Sep 5 2017, 8:33 AM

• MZMcBride subscribed.Sep 5 2017, 1:04 PM

pmiazga subscribed.Sep 5 2017, 1:30 PM

Jdlrobson closed subtask T63447: MobileFrontend user experience on Wiktionary is rough as Resolved.Sep 22 2017, 2:46 PM

Jdlrobson added a subtask: T178194: Enable new RC on mobile.Dec 1 2017, 7:49 PM

Nemo_bis mentioned this in T169162: [Epic] Improve special page template on Minerva.Dec 3 2017, 3:38 PM

Dvorapa added a subtask: T184221: Conflict between WikiHiero Egyptian hieroglyphs and Minerva.Jan 4 2018, 11:58 PM

This task as worded still continues to trouble me as although the goal is admirable it's unrealistic. We should be striving for "workflow equivalence" not "1:1 feature equivalence". I think that's what you meant reading through the task, but I worry the description is ambiguous and open to interpretation.

Certain complex interfaces are just not going to work on mobile as is e.g. VisualEditor. We should be able to give a good experience, but we can't have the same expectations of how VisualEditor will have feature equivalence to desktop. Maybe the toolbar has less features for example.

While it's nice to think all MediaWiki's features will work on mobile, from my experience that's just not plausible. Striving for same workflows e.g. I can edit! I can see recent changes! I can view diffs! should be what we are aiming for.

MobileFrontend currently adds mobile versions of desktop experiences, which I think goes some way to solve this without rocking the boat - I just wish MediaWiki was architected better to allow this with clear separation between views and models. For example the code for the mobile watchlist should simply take a model and render it. If we want workflow equivalence, making the code in core that powers are pages more malleable would be where I would start, not CSS/JS.

• brion renamed this task from Aim for 1:1 feature equivalence for MediaWiki on desktop and mobile web to Aim for workflow equivalence for MediaWiki on desktop and mobile web.Feb 1 2018, 6:31 PM

• brion updated the task description. (Show Details)

@Jdlrobson good point -- I've changed the wording.

In general it should always be possible to do things, even if "hard" things are an extra hop and job.

(A negative example which drives me nuts on GitHub -- I can't add an emoji response to an issue or pull request comment on mobile. I have to switch to Desktop view to do it, even though I can add a text comment on the mobile interface with no difficulty. This to me is an example of a case where it would have been easy to provide the feature on mobile as well; giving me an "out" through desktop mode was better than _nothing_ but only slightly. Putting it in the mobile interface front and center would have been easy for the devs and the users. Putting it in the mobile interface behind a menu would have been also easy for the devs, and at least semi-usable by the users.)

👍 thanks @brion!

Nemo_bis changed the status of subtask T24660: Display the categories on the mobile site for everyone from Stalled to Open.Apr 17 2018, 5:51 PM

Nemo_bis added a subtask: T47955: Provide a navigation option (next/previous/index page) for proofread page in mobile view.Jun 14 2018, 9:43 AM

Agabi10 subscribed.Jun 15 2018, 7:58 AM

Jdlrobson added a subtask: T138575: Title is ignored when curid is passed (RecentChanges hist link does not work).Jun 20 2018, 2:41 PM

Dvorapa added a subtask: T198724: Hatnote templates are under first paragraph on cswiki.Jul 3 2018, 3:09 PM

Cirdan added a subtask: T201228: Make it possible to reach the page history from mobile diff.Aug 4 2018, 8:36 AM

Cirdan subscribed.

ovasileva changed the status of subtask T201228: Make it possible to reach the page history from mobile diff from Open to Stalled.Aug 7 2018, 9:14 AM

Jdlrobson changed the status of subtask T201228: Make it possible to reach the page history from mobile diff from Stalled to Open.Aug 23 2018, 5:21 PM

matmarex closed subtask T67983: toaster overlay for watchlisting is inconsistent between mobile and desktop as Declined.Sep 25 2018, 12:22 PM

Krinkle added a subtask: T206250: Remove wgCategories from mw.config.Oct 4 2018, 9:29 PM

Added subtask for T206250 because the way wgCategories is removed in MobileFrontend is unsupported by core and may stop working at any time (only additions are allowed, not removals or modifications), and because the removal of such public API is bound to have caused or will be causing interoperability bugs.

It's a change from over two years ago, but really this kind of disabling of public APIs should not have been done in isolation.

MGChecker subscribed.Oct 13 2018, 8:52 AM

Krinkle mentioned this in T205128: Bundle Hogan.js.Oct 16 2018, 8:11 PM

Dvorapa added a subtask: T208730: No way to edit page from mobile watchlist.Nov 5 2018, 2:58 PM

Dvorapa added a subtask: T209042: No way to show the source code of locked template on mobile.Nov 8 2018, 11:41 AM

Dvorapa added a subtask: T209210: Images with attribute "border" not showing border on mobile.Nov 10 2018, 9:24 AM

Dvorapa added a subtask: T203151: Consider adding a button to let users edit the whole page in MobileFrontend.Dec 30 2018, 3:52 PM

Pelagic subscribed.Sep 25 2019, 9:24 PM

• Niedzielski mentioned this in T236097: Dev: Popups modules should set targets to mobile and desktop.Jan 15 2020, 6:44 PM

ovasileva closed subtask T133085: Graphs are broken by MobileFrontend's lazy loading image transformer as Resolved.Apr 10 2020, 9:32 AM

Peteforsyth subscribed.Apr 29 2020, 6:19 PM

Pcoombe subscribed.Apr 29 2020, 9:01 PM