VisualEditor/Design/Links

Current link inspector

This redesign addresses issues raised in usability testing.

Confusion about the search results: People were not certain that the search results were pages on Wikipedia. "I was expecting something like a page. I guess this is already a link? But I'll just click Done".

Searching for another page: When asked to link to a page with a different spelling than the original text, people didn't know to type into the search field.

External link: People didn't know that the search field doubles as an input for an external URL.

Goals for redesign

Continue allowing users to quickly make a link to the page with an exact match, if one exists.

Help users feel certain that this is a page on Wikipedia and allow them to determine its the correct page.

Allow users to quickly change to the correct page if the first result is not the page they intended.

Provide a clear way to make an external link.

Design

Workflows

A user links a word with an exact match. The dialogue will show a preview of that matching page.

A user links a word that has a redirect. The dialogue will show a preview of the destination of the redirect.

A user links a word that has no match or redirect. The dialogue will show a search field filled with the link text and search results below.

View a prototype.

• 
  A user highlights a word and clicks the link icon in the toolbar. This inspector pops up in context. The page that matches is shown with a lead image thumbnail, and could include the wikidata description. A user can edit or remove the link.
• 
  If a user clicks the Change button, they are shown a field with 2 tabs: Search Articles or External Link. The search field is auto filled with the current link text. Search results are shown with lead image thumbnails.
• 
  Adding an external link.
• 
  The link has been changed.