Background

In T256023: [EPIC] Improve language switching capabilities we moved the language button to a more convenient location at the top of the page. However, the results of our A/B test indicated that the new location of the button might be difficult to discover in the following use cases:

• For users that are accustomed to the previous location of the language switching functionality
• For users that tend to switch languages across multiple wikis. In the latter case, this created a situation where the language switching functionality was available in different locations depending on the wiki used and whether that wikis was a part of the pilot wikis group for the desktop improvements project

To improve on these issues, we will iterate on the implementation of the new language button with the goal of making the button easier to find across all scenarios. This epic will contain the various iterations planned.

List of proposed improvements

1. Providing direction to the new location of the language button from the previous location: T295555: Language switching: put an alert in the sidebar about where the language links are
2. Making the language switching functionality more noticeable: T291286: Explore iterations of current language button implementation: Make language button progressive
3. Providing direction to the new location of the language button from the current location using guided tours: task to be created
4. Improving main pages to make it possible to present the language switching functionality in a more prominent location: T293470: Easier language switching from Main page

Timeline and testing

We will be shipping the following improvements one at a time to new pilot wikis, mainly thwiki and viwiki, so that we can determine the impact each iteration has individually

1. T295555: Language switching: put an alert in the sidebar about where the language links are - this will have the largest impact on wikis that have not yet experienced the new language location. Thus, we plan on collecting data mainly from thwiki and viwiki, although the change will be available across all pilot wikis
2. T291286: Explore iterations of current language button implementation: Make language button progressive - this change will make the button more noticeable across all pilot wikis
3. Use guided tours to indicate the location of the new language button - this change will make the button more noticeable across all pilot wikis T297368: Add guided tour to improve discoverability of language switching functionality

Analysis

• Tracked in T297374: Analyze results of language button iterations

Sign-off criteria

• Publish analysis on-wiki
• Create tasks for further iteration post-analysis that will remove some of the more temporary iterations above (such as T297237: Remove language switching alert box temporary feature flag - make it part of the core software)