Talk:Wikimedia Apps/Team/Android/Communication

The latest tech news says:

In the Wikipedia Android app it is now possible to change the toolbar at the bottom so the tools you use more often are easier to click on. The app now also has a focused reading mode.

I was looking to use these features but couldn't find them in the latest beta (2.7.50397-beta-2022-03-09) or latest alpha (2.7.50397-alpha-2022-03-15). Could someone let me know what I'm missing?

Hi @Kaartic, very excited for you to use the feature. The new customizable toolbar and reading focus mode features are available in Beta and the Production app.

You can access it via the following steps:

• Open any Wikipedia article
• Click Theme

You should see reading focus mode under the section to update the font. The customizable toolbar is at the very bottom of the bottom sheet.

We are working on improving the discoverability of these two features. We welcome any feedback you have!

Found it now. Thanks for pointing it out clearly! I think I got misled by seeing some old mock screenshot in the wiki page about the feature.

We are working on improving the discoverability of these two features. We welcome any feedback you have!

That's glad to hear! I'll share a few suggestions that I have. It got a big long than I'd like. Sorry about that.

Suggestions regarding the placement of the "reading focus mode" icon:

• Like Firefox Android app: Firefox Android app shows an icon near the address bar of pages for which reading mode is available. You could try something similar by placing it near article title or some other place that's better suited. Placing it near article title means reading focus mode setting should be made per-article to be intuitive. This might be fine for users who mostly just stick to reading one artcile. It won't be suitable for people like me who easily get into rabbit holes.
• Always visible in top header: This would be easily accessible and easy to discover. But I'm not really sure if it would fit well with the rest of the UI.
• Swipe to edit: This felt like bit of a stretch but I wanted to share it anyways. The suggestion is to always render articles like how it is rendered in reading focus mode. To be more clear the edit pencils won't be visible by default. Editing could be initiated by means of a left-to-right swipe gesture. This would mean you won't need a separate focus mode button near the article view. For readers who always want an edit icon, you could possibly provide an option in app setting to bring the icons back.
• Like Pocket Android app: Pocket Android app provides an option in the overflow menu to switch b/w arcticle and web view. This might be a straight-forward and easily discoverable location to place the reading focus mode. [ web view, article view ]
• Like Microsoft Office Android app: Microsoft Office Android app shows a hovering icon to switch b/w Mobile view and print layout. It hides on scroll. This felt like a good way to place it too. [ mobile view, print layout ]

I'm just sharing ideas that I got. Forgive me if some of them sound a bit crazy.

Regarding placement of the customize toolbar option. I'm not so sure. The only suggestion that occurs to me is to place it in app settings and have a one time user education for better discovery. I suggest to keep it there as customising is not something that I believe would be done so often.

Hope this helps.

Hi, It would be good if this App would allow to upload media to Wikipedia or Commons. Yann (talk) 19:53, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

Commons Mobile app can do that. Do you think it's reasonable to incorporate this into Wikipedia app as well?

This is definitely on our radar, but is not a priority for the Wikipedia app yet. For now you can continue to use the Commons app to upload photos.

For a little extra background: The ability to upload photos directly from the mobile interface was actually available a long time ago, but it was eventually disabled because the vast majority of the uploads were selfies, useless photos, or copyright violations. Until we figure out how to guide users to upload only meaningful photos worthy of adding to Wikipedia articles, we won't be able to have this feature at the scale of our app.

@Ата: Yes, the Commons Mobile app has a lot of issues for a long time.