Background
We ran an A/B test of the more prominent search bar. We met the first part of our hypothesis (8% increase in users who initiate searches). Making the article search bar more prominent resulted in a 23.8% increase in the number of users who initiated searches form article view as compared to our control experience.
Making the search more prominent in article view means more people will use it in article view, but it does not necessarily result in a net increase in browsing Wikipedia articles (no increase in daily pageviews/user).
We conclude that users who are now searching from article view would've done so in another way (using the app’s overall search or using links), but this UI change makes searching more convenient for more people, or onboards them to the idea of searching from within article view.
Because the larger search bar increases search actions in Article View, does not negatively affect retention, and aligns with our future plans Navigation plans, our next step will be to scale the more prominent search bar to all languages.
Task
- Make the B (treatment) article search bar permanent for all languages
Engineering Notes
- Delete WMFNavigationExperimentsDataController
- Update ArticleViewController so that search bar displays for everyone instead of magnifying glass button.