Wikipedia: a New user Usability nightmare

Wikipedia uses mark up language to edit and write articles. Engaging meaningfully on the Talk pages also requires some knowledge of this mark up language.  The information on submission guidelines is vague and not at all welcoming to anyone who hasn’t encountered mark up language before.

 

Using this markup language – this is very difficult for a newbie or someone without any experience to use straight off the bat. Not to say that it isn’t good for people to learn this language, but Wikipedia can surely benefit from more user friendly interfaces, links and usability.

While browsing for more outsider’s perspective on the Wikipedia mark up, I found this opinion:

 

I don’t see how merit badges and online presence is in line with the idea of an inclusive global depository of knowledge.

The problem with using a markup language and not a simpler user interface is that if I don’t know this mark up language, and have trouble understanding the process of submitting an entry, I might not bother doing it at all.

1. This process starts of with the use of the Wikipedia Article Wizard, a simple enough Wizard that takes you through the steps of writing a Wikipedia article. You are constantly bombarded with cautions that if your article does not address the notability requirements, it will be swiftly deleted.

The wizard has steps on Subject, Notability, Sources and Content. At the End you are presented with a bewildering 3 choices:

2. I would recommend using the Userspace draft at all times, even if you are a seasoned article writer. What happens if you, Jannie Wikipedian, regular contributor and admin extraordinaire, gets called away and your new article left unfinished is unleashed on the unsuspecting cyber public?

When creating a userspace draft, you have to be sure to leave the “Special:MyPage/” intact, or else you are confronted with this page:

This is just bad usability design. If you are not allowed to remove this tag…why enable the user to do so in the first place?

3. Fine, on to the Userspace draft.
Now, finally, we are in business and you can write your entry. The mark up language is intimidating for a newbie and the process could be simplified with using designated areas instead of the mark up language, but that being said, writing the article is quite easy once you get the hang of it.

Once done, you are prompted at the top of the article to click on one of two links:

Selecting the Wikipedia: So you made a userspace draft link bring you to a page that once again drums in the importance of notability, sources and content,Just like the wizard.

Here at least they have the information on the tag you need to add as a first time Wikipedian. It is deeply nested in the Notes section of the page, and I didn’t find it until my second go around at writing an article, but there it is, proudly and for all to see:

If you’ve made contributions before, moving the article is quite easy, as you’ll have a move tab on your toolbar at the top:

4. And that should be it. Relatively easy, if you have the time and patience to weave through the pages and pages of text.

Observations and ideas for improvement on the process:

1. Article Wizard

In closing

When writing a Wikipedia article, the glut of information that you are bombarded with is confusing, irritating and frustrating. Especially as so much of it isn’t relevant to your particular case.  There needs to be a simpler user interface, and seeking help should point you in the direction of a page that deals with your specific problem and not every other problem ever encountered on Wikipedia.

Somewhere in the midst of writing this article, my Positive Heroes article was accepted as a new unreviewed article’ proving that even after a relisting cycle my article was not read by the administrators. I’m just hoping it won’t be “swiftly deleted” as is promised everywhere on the submission process.