Update on the first experiment. I've cleaned up a bit in Commons, and uses "-tari" to exclude the hundreds of dance pictures, and I've got a better result now.
Some more suggestions:
10. When adding new images, don't display the images that are already selected. For example, I've already had 3 images in the story from yesterday, when I'm adding more images, don't include those 3 images among the result today. If someone really want a duplicate image for their story telling, I suspect their numbers would be low, so make it as an extra step for them, don't display duplicates for the majority of users who didn't want duplicate images in their stories.
11. Users could decide the order of the images. As of now, I'm stuck with getting the images displayed in the order of the search result, let's say 3 images, a-b-c. While what I wanted to build was c-b-a, or b-a-c, etc. Either provide a way in the selection process to sort the images based on the order I'm clicking the images (which has been my experience in messaging app when I'm attaching pictures, for example), or, after the images have been selected, in the list of images in the bottom, provide a way to drag and drop to change the order.
(PS: reminder I'm doing the tests using desktop with mobile web version, with my mouse, so let me know if there's some difference with the real mobile experience)
Even the editing tool in Story namespace didn't have an easy way to change the order.
12. Since there's two ways to edit stories, one through JS (StoryBuilder), and one using no JS (using Story namespace), maybe provide a direct link between the two. For example, I wanted to change the fourth picture of the map of the city, but searching for the image "Peta Solo per kelurahan.svg" and many variations (peta solo, peta surakarta, peta kelurahan etc.) return 0 result, so I had to change it manually, but there's no direct way to do it.
13. I just noticed something strange when I edit the story manually (#12 above), This edit says I'm deleting 4138 bytes of data, when I'm only changing one image. How is that possible? I didn't lose any text either.
14. A small pet peeve, maybe implement a shortcut "Ctrl+Enter" when finished editing text.
4. Regarding #4 in my first post "Links to the history of the page, to credit the writers/contributors of the text", I suppose both, the link to the history of the original article, and who made the story (since the text could've been written all by the story maker(s) too). Images get their credits, why not the text of the stories as well.
> Does "page" refer to the article the story is based on or the story itself? If it's the article, we have a link back to it just above the story but I guess we could have a section explaining that the story is based on this article with quick access to different links like the article history.
In Story namespace, the link goes immediately to the JS version, so there's really no easy way for the viewer to see the contributors of the article. Maybe a different link is needed, with text such as "[article name]" - "by Wikipedian contributors", the first link to the JS version, and the second link to the history page.
In the JS version, maybe put it at the very last slideshow, showing when was the story made and/or last changed, and by whom. No need to be big and center, maybe just like the opening slide with the title of the story, it could be a one liner in the bottom.
15. I noticed that for PNG and SVG file with transparent background, the background in the JS version would be black. Could this be made into white? Otherwise I will need to reupload my PNG image with white background.
16. The link in the Story namespace, if I'm in desktop mode, should still link to the mobile web version, so that the JS version would be displayed. (Currently if I'm on desktop mode, the link would also go to the desktop mode, and wouldn't display the JS version)
1. & 2. Regarding #1 and #2 in my first post, when I searched for some pictures, the cropping mechanism also didn't allow me to have a good look of the pictures, like in this screenshot . Ideally when I hover, I should be able to see the full picture.
17. I haven't tested much in my hand phone, I'm waiting for the public launch on Monday. So far I couldn't get the mobile display correctly in my phone, so the wikistories experience is also not quite pleasant for now (arrow, close, and pause buttons and texts too small, and panoramic images get zoomed too much in portrait view to my liking, cannot swipe, editing is generally unpleasant.)
18. I tried to create a story through Story namespace, filled all 20 fields, except for Frame 10, I had a typo, then when I clicked publish, it said "The file ... was not found", and the rest of the information that I filled disappeared. Ideally, even when there was error when submitting the form, the user didn't have to re-write everything again. Just like the form in other websites.
The same happen when the file name contains "File:" in front of the file name (or the localized term).
19. When mouse-hovering over the stories, should display the story titles, otherwise, the user cannot expect which is which, or if looking for a specific story, couldn't easily distinguish between stories just by looking at the thumbnail (image in circles).
20. Related to #13, I was changing the "Related Article" field in the Story namespace, but the diff didn't show the change . I think there are some bugs in the diff, between this and #13 above. Clicking "Show changes" button, or trying to revert the edit, also didn't show the change in "Related Articles" field.
21. More than 1 "Related Articles" value. Some stories that I made could be displayed in multiple articles, therefore with multiple "Related Articles", I don't have to copy paste the stories to several articles.
22. Linkback and (global) file usage. The images that are used, are not displayed in "What links here" special page, nor the (global) file usage in the File namespace. Linking them is useful for people who go to the file description to go to the story.