Simply localizing Mediawiki:whatlinkshere seems inappropriate for this, but if this title is the only use for that message perhaps its default text can just be improved.

Or just make the box expanded by default so that the controls are visible.

Responsive.

Collapse initially on small windows, e.g. phones.

On desktop and even more on large desktop window unfold the hidden treasures. That would be more or less the classic appearance, but consuming a bit more space than the historic HTML UI.

The same story goes for all new interfaces with narrowing features.

I'm not sure about making it exploded by default, and perhaps that is a secondary request - but the label is still not very good.

I'm confused as to why "What links here" is in that label at all -- we already know what page we're on because the box sits right below the h1 that says "Pages that link to "X"". The label should be clear and unambiguous, something like "Advanced options" (and frankly this applies to "Special:Contributions" as well, as the box isn't for searching since we already did that, it's for setting advanced search options).

In T310014#7985535, @Ahecht wrote:

I'm confused as to why "What links here" is in that label at all -- we already know what page we're on because the box sits right below the h1 that says "Pages that link to "X"". The label should be clear and unambiguous, something like "Advanced options" (and frankly this applies to "Special:Contributions" as well, as the box isn't for searching since we already did that, it's for setting advanced search options).

In Special:Contributions it is the same label used if you didn't give a parameter, for example if you just visit this link: https://test.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions ; the https://test.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere empty box/collapsed box are what this task is about - the label just isn't very helpful as-is.

I'd be happy to approve patches if anyone here would like to make a concrete proposal and submit it as a patch on Gerrit.