JayneG
1
Welcome to the wikiHaus Lab update! Here’s what’s new for August 7th:
What’s happening?
A continuation of testing and experimenting with different article styles. One such experiment that started this week is making changes to the format of the article: using bullet points in steps and changing section headings to more of a list format in articles where the process isn’t always a linear sequence of steps, but instead is a collection of things a reader can try, such as on https://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-a-Hangover
. You may see more of these popping up around the site as the test continues.
Who’s working on it?
Chris and Carrie and the content team are working on implementing these innovation edits.
What’s the goal of this?
The continued goal here is to see whether variations on our standard step-by-step format are more helpful to readers on some topics. Other new formats may be tested soon - I’ll keep you posted when those start going live.
What do you think of this style? Do you think that it could be easier for a reader to digest the information with this format? Do you think it might be easier to write articles if there are different formatting options?
What’s happening?
Over the next week or so, you may see some changes to the way we ask for ratings on recipe articles. We are testing moving away from sharing success stories, to something easier and lighter - like “leave a review”.
Who’s working on it?
Emily is heading up this update.
What’s the goal of this?
The goal here is to get more ratings on recipe articles. The current flow feels a little more complicated than it needs to be, so we’re hoping to encourage people to leave a review by making it easier to do so.
Emily would love your feedback as we test these changes! If you’re interested, feel free to take a look at some recipes before the changes next week, then I’ll let you all know when the changes are in place, and you can compare the flow once the test is running
You may have noticed:
Readers using ad blockers are being shown a banner to see if they’d be interested in donating to wikiHow. The current focus on those with ad blockers plays to the fact that they are blocking the primary source of revenue for wikiHow. Simply reminding people of our mission and giving readers the opportunity to be a part of wikiHow in this way has been a positive addition to the site, and in general this test is going well. The team is still innovating and working on creating the best contribution experience possible, so it’s likely that this will continue - though it’s not likely to overtake ad revenue any time soon
You may have noticed:
Author bylines have returned to their previous state. After taking time to test, the updated byline style didn’t seem to improve engagement, and was reverted. Co-author images and detailed information is in the right sidebar, with the general contributor information directly under the title.
5 Likes
I like the idea of the change since I remember coming across articles where the normal linear steps don’t fit very well. However, I’m not a fan of the title (16 Science-Backed Ways to Get Rid of a Hangover Faster) which reminds me of sites like BuzzFeed with the clickbait. I think the long-winded language ( ‘‘The most obvious solution, yet one of the best’’; ‘‘this might sound a little out there’’; “might feel like a real challenge, especially if you’re really dragging, but it will be totally worth it”) contributes to that feeling. The direct language usually used to start off steps comes off as more professional and easier to read in my opinion.
6 Likes
These sound like good ideas.
