Maniphest T320684

Converge on a revised Reply button style for languages where the word "reply" is short (desktop)
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	ppelberg
	Oct 12 2022, 10:34 PM

Description

This task involves the work of revising how the desktop Reply button is styled in languages where the word "reply" is short enough that it can be difficult for people to notice it:

ja.wiki (desktop)	ar.wiki (desktop)

https://w.wiki/5ouX	https://w.wiki/5ouY

Thank you to @Dyolf77_WMF for first spotting this issue.

Requirements

Meta

Platform: Desktop
- Assumption: the arrows that prefix the Reply buttons on mobile make it possible for people to locate the affordance despite it containing relatively few characters. [i]
Languages:
- ar: ردّ
- nod: ᨲᩬᨷ (nod.wikipedia is in the Incubator)
- zh: 回复
- ja: 返信
- yue: 覆
Per-wiki configuration: wikis ought to be able to decide for themselves whether they would like to enable the revised appearance of the Reply buttons this task will introduce.

User experience
As we currently have arrows on ar.wiki mobile, we can increase the affordance of the "Reply" buttons on desktop by adding them as well.

It seems like the font-weight varies, or optically the body on ja.wiki seems lighter than on ar.wiki – hence the contrast between the boldness of the reply button on ja.wiki is more noticeable than on ar.wiki for instance.

Approaches

On scripts with a small number of characters for the word "reply", users will be able to quickly find the button thanks to the "reply" icon in the button.

i. Mobile ar.wiki talk page:

Screen Shot 2022-10-12 at 3.24.03 PM.png (1×776 px, 177 KB)

Details

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	[WIP] Show reply button icons on desktop	mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools	master	+6 -4

Customize query in gerrit

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Status	Assigned	Task
Open	None	T276497 Scale DiscussionTools to all projects
Open	None	T366095 Deploy comment thanking to all wikis
Open	None	T310959 Scale Usability Improvements to all projects
Open	Trizek-WMF	T319146 [Release Ticket] Offer Usability Improvements as default-on feature at all projects (desktop)
Resolved	ppelberg	T302547 [Usability Improvements] Deploy as Beta Feature at all wikis (desktop)
Resolved	DLynch	T323537 [Config Change] Add Clear Affordances (with arrow) to beta feature (desktop)
Resolved	nayoub	T320684 Converge on a revised Reply button style for languages where the word "reply" is short (desktop)

Event Timeline

ppelberg created this task.Oct 12 2022, 10:34 PM

ppelberg moved this task from Incoming to Ready to Be Worked On on the Editing-team (Kanban Board) board.

ppelberg mentioned this in T320685: Consult with volunteers about proposals for making desktop Reply button more legible.Oct 12 2022, 10:39 PM

nod is the Northern Thai language. There is no Wikipedia for this language. (It's currently in the Incubator.) It's possible to use the language in the UI, but there are no wikis with this language as the default UI or content language.

nayoub updated the task description. (Show Details)Oct 13 2022, 10:12 PM

The language of the Reply button depends on the UI language, not the content language. Thus, per-wiki configuration makes no sense, since it would not help users who use an affected UI language on a wiki whose default is not affected (e.g. Arabic UI on Commons), but it would unnecessarily distract users who use a non-affected UI language on a wiki whose default is affected (e.g. English UI on Japanese Wikipedia). Approaches that could work (in no particular order), all with some caveats:

Use a heuristics to determine whether to add the arrow, based on the length of the translation of “reply”. Caveat: the visual length of the text may not be easily determinable (e.g. compare the length of lll and mmm, both three characters long). It may even depend on the font (e.g. monospace vs non-monospace fonts).
Hardcode the language for which to show the arrow in code. Caveat: requires maintenance by developers.
Set it in a message translated on translatewiki.net (this is the most similar to what @ppelberg probably had in mind – namely a MediaWiki message customizable on-wiki –, but translatewiki.net to provide per-language instead of per-wiki customization). Caveat: MediaWiki messages are for texts, not boolean things, a boolean value may surprise translators and result in invalid translations.

ppelberg added a project: Goal.Oct 17 2022, 6:37 PM

I agree, this should be per-language not per-wiki.

I think either option 2 or 3 would be good. I suggest that we don't overthink it and just pick whichever looks easier once we know what we actually want to change about the button.

ppelberg moved this task from Backlog to Triaged on the DiscussionTools board.Oct 20 2022, 3:32 PM

ppelberg assigned this task to nayoub.Oct 24 2022, 4:27 PM

ppelberg mentioned this in T321955: [Config Change] Add Clear Affordances to beta feature at Phase 3 wikis (desktop).Oct 28 2022, 10:33 PM

ppelberg added a parent task: T321955: [Config Change] Add Clear Affordances to beta feature at Phase 3 wikis (desktop).

ppelberg removed a parent task: T320682: [Release ticket] Deploy Clear Affordances as Beta Feature at Phase 1 Wikis.

• Whatamidoing-WMF updated the task description. (Show Details)Nov 1 2022, 3:16 AM

Change 851653 had a related patch set uploaded (by Esanders; author: Esanders):

[mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools@master] [WIP] Show reply button icons on desktop

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/851653

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Nov 1 2022, 3:23 PM

Test wiki created on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/34ab741e47/wiki/Talk:DiscussionTools

The above patch can be used to create demos with the reply button visible on mobile. For more realistic demos, set the content language of the wiki when creating it.

Japanese demo (with English content): https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/34ab741e47/wiki/Talk:DiscussionTools?uselang=ja

In T320684#8360197, @Esanders wrote:

The above patch can be used to create demos with the reply button visible on mobile. For more realistic demos, set the content language of the wiki when creating it.

Excellent – thank you, @Esanders

I've started creating localized talk pages and adding them to T320685 os that we can share them with volunteers and learn whether they think having an arrow accompany the Reply buttons helps them notice the affordance more easily.

Test wiki created on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/80823318f6/w

Test wiki created on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/67a0203ee5/w

This task is blocked on knowing the outcomes of the community conversations that are happening in T320685.

Test wiki created on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/6a26277ddf/w

Test wiki created on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/a617112a54/w

ppelberg mentioned this in T323422: Revise design of arrow that can appear before Reply buttons.Nov 19 2022, 1:06 AM

• Whatamidoing-WMF updated the task description. (Show Details)Nov 21 2022, 6:17 AM

ppelberg edited parent tasks, added: T323537: [Config Change] Add Clear Affordances (with arrow) to beta feature (desktop); removed: T321955: [Config Change] Add Clear Affordances to beta feature at Phase 3 wikis (desktop).Nov 30 2022, 7:13 PM

ppelberg removed a subtask: T320685: Consult with volunteers about proposals for making desktop Reply button more legible.

Change 851653 abandoned by Bartosz Dziewoński:

[mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools@master] [WIP] Show reply button icons on desktop

Reason:

Superseded by https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/c/mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools/+/867310

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/851653

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Dec 29 2022, 10:30 PM

To start, we've decided to make the Reply button easier for people to notice on desktop by prefixing it with OOUI's "share" arrow. This change was implemented in T323537.

Test wiki on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

~~https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/34ab741e47/w/~~

ppelberg mentioned this in T329407: [Config] Offer Usability Improvements as default-on features at partner wikis (desktop).Mar 13 2023, 11:29 PM

Test wiki on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

~~https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/80823318f6/w/~~

Test wiki on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

~~https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/67a0203ee5/w/~~

Test wiki on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

~~https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/6a26277ddf/w/~~

Test wiki on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

~~https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/a617112a54/w/~~

ppelberg mentioned this in T352087: [MILESTONE] Offer Usability Improvements as default-on feature at Phase 2 wikis (desktop).Nov 27 2023, 7:50 PM

	F35565268: Screen Shot 2022-10-12 at 3.24.03 PM.png
	Oct 12 2022, 10:34 PM

	F35565273: Screen Shot 2022-10-12 at 3.30.51 PM.png
	Oct 12 2022, 10:34 PM

	F35565271: Screen Shot 2022-10-12 at 3.29.03 PM.png
	Oct 12 2022, 10:34 PM

Converge on a revised Reply button style for languages where the word "reply" is short (desktop)Closed, ResolvedPublicActions

Description

Requirements

Approaches

Details

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Event Timeline

Converge on a revised Reply button style for languages where the word "reply" is short (desktop)
Closed, ResolvedPublic
Actions

Related Objects
Search...