Change the names of "Choose your search interface" options
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	Amire80
	Jul 10 2022, 1:44 PM

Description

The preference "Choose your search interface" has two options: "Special:Search" and "Special:MediaSearch". This is a bit too technical because it assumes that the user knows these internal canonical names.

I suggest changing them to something more meaningful and translatable, for example:

Default general search (Special:Search)
Search for media files (Special:MediaSearch)

I also recommend changing another two messages that mention "Special:Search" to this:

Looking for [[Special:Search]]? -> Looking for [[Special:Search|the usual search page]]?
Switch to [[Special:Search]] -> Switch to [[Special:Search|the usual search page]]

Technically, it's a trivial change in en.json, but I'm creating a task so that designers and product managers can take a look. Perhaps there was a reason for these technical names that I'm not aware of.

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	Update messages that mention special pages	mediawiki/extensions/MediaSearch	master	+4 -4

Customize query in gerrit

Event Timeline

Amire80 created this task.Jul 10 2022, 1:44 PM

Restricted Application added a project: Structured-Data-Backlog. · View Herald TranscriptJul 10 2022, 1:44 PM

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Amire80 updated the task description. (Show Details)Jul 10 2022, 1:49 PM

Change 812523 had a related patch set uploaded (by Amire80; author: Amire80):

[mediawiki/extensions/MediaSearch@master] Update messages that mention special pages

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/812523

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Jul 10 2022, 1:49 PM

Special:Search is not the usual search, so the name change suggestions do not make sense for the user experience

In T312721#8130210, @SWakiyama wrote:

Special:Search is not the usual search, so the name change suggestions do not make sense for the user experience

The problem is that "Special:Search" is too technical. MediaWiki power-users understand what it is, but most people who just want to search for photos don't. Do you have a different suggestion to address this problem? Perhaps "general" instead of "usual"?

I think the key thing to keep in mind is that MediaSearch provides the ability for general text search so what you've proposed isn't a wholly accurate reflection of MediaSearch and the differences between it and Special:Search.

The better solution at this point is probably only showing that "switch to special search" to logged-in users and statistically they are the ones most likely to want to swap between the two and know what Special:Search is.

These are all relevant and important points. Search especially needs to be intuitive for users and as we work on the strategy for search, we will use this to inform UI changes. It will still be some time before we have more clarity on search strategy, so can consider Seddon's suggestions for an improvement now.

CBogen moved this task from Triage to MediaSearch on the Structured-Data-Backlog board.Aug 8 2022, 2:28 PM

Change 812523 abandoned by Seddon:

[mediawiki/extensions/MediaSearch@master] Update messages that mention special pages

Reason:

https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T312721#8131350

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/812523

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Aug 11 2022, 2:31 PM

Seddon unsubscribed.Oct 19 2022, 12:47 PM