Clean design with professional white background
January 19, 2023 10:26 PM Subscribe
This is an attractive and very usable design...for mobile displays. I'm mystified why they've chosen to have all this blank space on the sides. Most of us still have horizontal monitors.
posted by solarion at 11:49 PM on January 19, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by solarion at 11:49 PM on January 19, 2023 [14 favorites]
So this is not new with this redesign, but does everyone else get the thing where the first header is missing? Like for the Metafiter page I don't actually see the "Community" header, and clicking on the "Community" link in the table of contents does nothing.
That started a while back and it's mystifying to me that it hasn't been fixed with the new design. But maybe this is just a me problem?
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:03 AM on January 20, 2023
That started a while back and it's mystifying to me that it hasn't been fixed with the new design. But maybe this is just a me problem?
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:03 AM on January 20, 2023
I'm also a bit peeved with the blank space on the sides, but there's quite extensive research that shows readability goes down when lines get too long. I'm used to reading very wide text, so it might not affect me as much, but I have no problem believing that's true for most people.
Anyway, if you look in the very bottom right of your window, there's a button with a kind of square made up of angles pointing outwards (it floats in the bottom right of the window even if you scroll), and if you click it, you make the margins disappear and get wider text again, but keep the rest of the new design. The button is still there, now with angles pointing inwards, if you want to switch back. I suggest experimenting, I'm not sure yet what I prefer vs. what's just habit.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 12:14 AM on January 20, 2023 [7 favorites]
Anyway, if you look in the very bottom right of your window, there's a button with a kind of square made up of angles pointing outwards (it floats in the bottom right of the window even if you scroll), and if you click it, you make the margins disappear and get wider text again, but keep the rest of the new design. The button is still there, now with angles pointing inwards, if you want to switch back. I suggest experimenting, I'm not sure yet what I prefer vs. what's just habit.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 12:14 AM on January 20, 2023 [7 favorites]
This is an attractive and very usable design...for mobile displays. I'm mystified why they've chosen to have all this blank space on the sides. Most of us still have horizontal monitors.
Limiting the width of text to about 40 to 75 characters per line makes it much easier to read -- your eyes don't have to ping back and forth like a tennis match. The Wikipedia folks have a long explanation about this, with supporting references.
posted by a car full of lions at 12:17 AM on January 20, 2023 [23 favorites]
Limiting the width of text to about 40 to 75 characters per line makes it much easier to read -- your eyes don't have to ping back and forth like a tennis match. The Wikipedia folks have a long explanation about this, with supporting references.
posted by a car full of lions at 12:17 AM on January 20, 2023 [23 favorites]
Strangely, I'm getting the updated design on some pages but not others. Ironically the sample page linked in the post is one of those showing up in the old design for me.
posted by a car full of lions at 12:23 AM on January 20, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by a car full of lions at 12:23 AM on January 20, 2023 [8 favorites]
Reasonable line lengths are indeed much comfier, though I'm not surprised Mefites are well-adapted to long ones. Just the other day though I added a stylesheet override for comments here to set the max-width to 80ch (slightly bigger line-height too) and I'm loving it.
posted by otsebyatina at 12:27 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by otsebyatina at 12:27 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
"More prominently-placed language-switching tools that allow multilingual readers and editors to more quickly find their preferred language and switch between over 300 languages."
Hrm. More quickly than just seeing which languages are available at once and clicking on the one I want without having to open a dropdown first? Sure...
posted by bigendian at 1:07 AM on January 20, 2023 [7 favorites]
Hrm. More quickly than just seeing which languages are available at once and clicking on the one I want without having to open a dropdown first? Sure...
posted by bigendian at 1:07 AM on January 20, 2023 [7 favorites]
Oh, I like it! The line length is comfortable, the sticky header and TOC sidebar is a welcome touch, and it's not a complete baby-out-with-bathwater overhaul. Two thumbs up, wikipedes.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 1:21 AM on January 20, 2023
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 1:21 AM on January 20, 2023
BobTheScientist, there's a Random page link in the sidebar on the left, above the TOC. You open the sidebar with the hamburger ☰ in the top-left (and close it with the « that replaces it).
posted by wjt at 1:34 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by wjt at 1:34 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Limiting the width of text to about 40 to 75 characters per line makes it much easier to read -- your eyes don't have to ping back and forth like a tennis match. The Wikipedia folks have a long explanation about this, with supporting references.
Well that changes my perspective considerably as I hadn't heard of this angle.
It could be nice if they used this new real estate for in-line references and footnotes.
posted by solarion at 1:50 AM on January 20, 2023 [10 favorites]
Well that changes my perspective considerably as I hadn't heard of this angle.
It could be nice if they used this new real estate for in-line references and footnotes.
posted by solarion at 1:50 AM on January 20, 2023 [10 favorites]
Looks nice, some worrying accessibility issues for keyboard-only users and screen reader users. :(
posted by greenhornet at 2:05 AM on January 20, 2023
posted by greenhornet at 2:05 AM on January 20, 2023
This is an attractive and very usable design...for mobile displays.
Heh. On my iPad, Wikipedia usually gives me the desktop site. On rare occasions, it will feed me the mobile site instead. When I first came across this redesign a couple of days ago, I just thought I was being fed the mobile site, so kept requesting the desktop site but kept getting this new site. And then I opened my #@&% eyes and read the announcement banner about the redesign.
It’s a quiet redesign, nothing radical, which I appreciate. There is a ton of wasted space up top, though.
The home page I’m seeing is topped with a panel containing the Wikipedia logo and the search field (which is blessedly larger).
Then there’s a ton of open space below it.
Then there’s an hugely overly large “Welcome to Wikipedia” panel. If you look closely there are extremely small links along the top of this panel that lead to subsections. These are oddly separated along the top edge of the panel, with two links at the far left end of the panel and three links at the far right end. That’s a really odd arrangement.
Then, you finally get to the useable stuff that is normally on the front page. Featured article, In the News, etc.
The effect of this arrangement is that Wikipedia visually “starts” later than the old desktop page did. The big culprit is that middle “Welcome” panel. It’s far too enormous. It’s unnecessary, and kind of feels like I should be able to dismiss it somehow, but there’s no corner X to be found. I was already “welcomed” by the Wikipedia logo up at the top (which, frankly, looks like it’s being crammed out-of-sight up there.)
They need to work on combining the topmost panel and the “Welcome” panel, and then reduce the vast open spaces. That’s not to say I want everything crammed together, of course. A bit of breathing space is always appreciated, but right now there’s far too much of it.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:23 AM on January 20, 2023
Heh. On my iPad, Wikipedia usually gives me the desktop site. On rare occasions, it will feed me the mobile site instead. When I first came across this redesign a couple of days ago, I just thought I was being fed the mobile site, so kept requesting the desktop site but kept getting this new site. And then I opened my #@&% eyes and read the announcement banner about the redesign.
It’s a quiet redesign, nothing radical, which I appreciate. There is a ton of wasted space up top, though.
The home page I’m seeing is topped with a panel containing the Wikipedia logo and the search field (which is blessedly larger).
Then there’s a ton of open space below it.
Then there’s an hugely overly large “Welcome to Wikipedia” panel. If you look closely there are extremely small links along the top of this panel that lead to subsections. These are oddly separated along the top edge of the panel, with two links at the far left end of the panel and three links at the far right end. That’s a really odd arrangement.
Then, you finally get to the useable stuff that is normally on the front page. Featured article, In the News, etc.
The effect of this arrangement is that Wikipedia visually “starts” later than the old desktop page did. The big culprit is that middle “Welcome” panel. It’s far too enormous. It’s unnecessary, and kind of feels like I should be able to dismiss it somehow, but there’s no corner X to be found. I was already “welcomed” by the Wikipedia logo up at the top (which, frankly, looks like it’s being crammed out-of-sight up there.)
They need to work on combining the topmost panel and the “Welcome” panel, and then reduce the vast open spaces. That’s not to say I want everything crammed together, of course. A bit of breathing space is always appreciated, but right now there’s far too much of it.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:23 AM on January 20, 2023
>"More prominently-placed language-switching tools that allow multilingual readers and editors to more quickly find their preferred language and switch between over 300 languages."
Hrm. More quickly than just seeing which languages are available at once and clicking on the one I want without having to open a dropdown first? Sure...
Yeah, I'm in favor of anything that requires minimal clicking, and I switch languages a lot, so I don't love this. On the other hand, I could get used to the table of contents following you down as you scroll, which is what's taken the space formerly used by the language list. On the third hand, when the TOC gets long it requires mouse scrolling instead of just continuing down the page, which is not so fun accessibility-wise.
posted by trig at 2:45 AM on January 20, 2023
Hrm. More quickly than just seeing which languages are available at once and clicking on the one I want without having to open a dropdown first? Sure...
Yeah, I'm in favor of anything that requires minimal clicking, and I switch languages a lot, so I don't love this. On the other hand, I could get used to the table of contents following you down as you scroll, which is what's taken the space formerly used by the language list. On the third hand, when the TOC gets long it requires mouse scrolling instead of just continuing down the page, which is not so fun accessibility-wise.
posted by trig at 2:45 AM on January 20, 2023
Isn’t this just the layout the french wikipedia has had for quite a while now?
posted by trotz dem alten drachen at 2:49 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by trotz dem alten drachen at 2:49 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Reading this on my mobile, so of course my first thought on clicking the preview page was that it looked exactly the same. Hey, it's been a long week, I'm tired.
Now all they need is a dark mode so the glaring whiteness doesn't break my migraine-ridden brain and I'll be happy.
posted by Athanassiel at 3:58 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Now all they need is a dark mode so the glaring whiteness doesn't break my migraine-ridden brain and I'll be happy.
posted by Athanassiel at 3:58 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Even with the 'expand' icon clicked, there is just an acre of glaring white empty space on the right-hand side. I hate it.
(It also doesn't remember that toggle at all, and requires it to be re-expanded every time you so much as follow a link in the same tab.)
posted by Dysk at 4:33 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
(It also doesn't remember that toggle at all, and requires it to be re-expanded every time you so much as follow a link in the same tab.)
posted by Dysk at 4:33 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you want to revert to the old design, append ?useskin=Vector to the URL. (Got that tip from Mastodon. Really starting to like Mastodon a lot!)
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:52 AM on January 20, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:52 AM on January 20, 2023 [9 favorites]
Maybe it's just my setup, but is the font size quite small?
posted by benoliver999 at 5:14 AM on January 20, 2023
posted by benoliver999 at 5:14 AM on January 20, 2023
I honestly can't see a difference. What supposedly changed?
posted by sotonohito at 6:00 AM on January 20, 2023
posted by sotonohito at 6:00 AM on January 20, 2023
My cursor just happened to hover over a hyperlink and THIS popped up on my screen.
posted by slogger at 6:43 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by slogger at 6:43 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I honestly can't see a difference. What supposedly changed?
The outline of section headers now floats to the left, rather than being inline in the article. The article itself is limited in line length. Personally, I think the font size could be larger and the line length even more limited by default.
Many years ago, when I re-designed the word processor I publish (Bean), I noticed in coffee shops that people opened their word processor windows to the size of the screen, which made the text lines terribly long. So in my app, I added "grabbers" that allow you to adjust the width of text within the app's window, a bit like closing curtains. Most other apps, you have to zoom in on the text or else adjust the window's size to accomplish this. Honestly, I'm not sure why it hasn't caught on elsewhere, such as in this case with Wikipedia.
there's a button with a kind of square made up of angles pointing outwards (it floats in the bottom right of the window even if you scroll), and if you click it, you make the margins disappear and get wider text again
Definitely not seeing this on Firefox or Safari on the Mac. Anyone else seeing it?
posted by jabah at 6:46 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
The outline of section headers now floats to the left, rather than being inline in the article. The article itself is limited in line length. Personally, I think the font size could be larger and the line length even more limited by default.
Many years ago, when I re-designed the word processor I publish (Bean), I noticed in coffee shops that people opened their word processor windows to the size of the screen, which made the text lines terribly long. So in my app, I added "grabbers" that allow you to adjust the width of text within the app's window, a bit like closing curtains. Most other apps, you have to zoom in on the text or else adjust the window's size to accomplish this. Honestly, I'm not sure why it hasn't caught on elsewhere, such as in this case with Wikipedia.
there's a button with a kind of square made up of angles pointing outwards (it floats in the bottom right of the window even if you scroll), and if you click it, you make the margins disappear and get wider text again
Definitely not seeing this on Firefox or Safari on the Mac. Anyone else seeing it?
posted by jabah at 6:46 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm not seeing a LOT of what's described above in Firefox on Mac. I don't have much whitespace on the sides, "random article" is right where I expected it, I see no floats on the bottom right.
All I see is a fairly normal wikipedia page with a little cleaner layout, and I do really like the main things that jump out at me: more compact and functional banner/header at top, and the floating left list of contents that live updates where you are as you scroll down. It's not a big deal on small pages, but it's awesome on big complex pages!
Not sure if all the differences are due to browser differences, OS differences, or preferences set in browsers, or preferences set on WP? Or maybe they are A/B testing us. Anyway, really interesting that we're trying to talk about the same thing but it's pretty clear we are seeing (very?) different things.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:59 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
All I see is a fairly normal wikipedia page with a little cleaner layout, and I do really like the main things that jump out at me: more compact and functional banner/header at top, and the floating left list of contents that live updates where you are as you scroll down. It's not a big deal on small pages, but it's awesome on big complex pages!
Not sure if all the differences are due to browser differences, OS differences, or preferences set in browsers, or preferences set on WP? Or maybe they are A/B testing us. Anyway, really interesting that we're trying to talk about the same thing but it's pretty clear we are seeing (very?) different things.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:59 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Isn’t this just the layout the french wikipedia has had for quite a while now?Yeah, I think they beta-tested the layout on the French.
posted by dominik at 7:03 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've been using Modern for Wikipedia for a year or so now. It's a browser extension with a full redesign. (Not the "Modern" Wikipedia skin, that's different.) I love it and miss it, it's not working on Firefox right now I assume because of the redesign. I hope they get it working again.
Wikipedia's redesign is good but not great. They've left all the UI junk on the page, the grey navigation box top left with links I will never click like "Community portal" or "Cite this page". Those tools should be available, sure, but hidden behind a hamburger menu or something. Not occupying the primary place of importance on the screen. Modern for Wikipedia does a great job hiding all that crap but making it findable if you need it.
The Android tablet app for Wikipedia has had a fantastic design for awhile now. Being an app seems to have freed the designers to think differently and hide all the UI crap behind buttons, like an app. The Wikipedia page design seems stuck in a 2005 Web mindset.
posted by Nelson at 7:11 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Wikipedia's redesign is good but not great. They've left all the UI junk on the page, the grey navigation box top left with links I will never click like "Community portal" or "Cite this page". Those tools should be available, sure, but hidden behind a hamburger menu or something. Not occupying the primary place of importance on the screen. Modern for Wikipedia does a great job hiding all that crap but making it findable if you need it.
The Android tablet app for Wikipedia has had a fantastic design for awhile now. Being an app seems to have freed the designers to think differently and hide all the UI crap behind buttons, like an app. The Wikipedia page design seems stuck in a 2005 Web mindset.
posted by Nelson at 7:11 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
All that empty space on the sides will be a great place to put giant ads begging for two dollar donations.
posted by Superilla at 7:12 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Superilla at 7:12 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
In browser, this looks like the way pages used to look when I opened mobile Wikipedia links on a desktop browser. Personally I don't love the blank space at the sides, and used to like the sidebar stuff having lines around it. I know that's super old school in terms of web design but I have neurodivergent-related issues around visual attention and something about boxing off the sidebar links worked for my brain in a way that having them just floating on the left-hand side really doesn't - now the lines are gone, they're competing for visual attention with the content I actually want to read. When the lines were there, they didn't. I don't know why either. However, like every single website update I've ever disliked (and, again, I'm autistic and don't like it when things I'm very familiar with change the way they look), this is neither for nor about me.
Anyway, if you look in the very bottom right of your window, there's a button with a kind of square made up of angles pointing outwards (it floats in the bottom right of the window even if you scroll), and if you click it, you make the margins disappear and get wider text again, but keep the rest of the new design. The button is still there, now with angles pointing inwards, if you want to switch back.
I read this and hoped it would solve all my problems, but the button isn't there for me - likely my own fault due to the amount of browser extensions I have to block pop-ups and other irritating visual elements.
posted by terretu at 7:19 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Anyway, if you look in the very bottom right of your window, there's a button with a kind of square made up of angles pointing outwards (it floats in the bottom right of the window even if you scroll), and if you click it, you make the margins disappear and get wider text again, but keep the rest of the new design. The button is still there, now with angles pointing inwards, if you want to switch back.
I read this and hoped it would solve all my problems, but the button isn't there for me - likely my own fault due to the amount of browser extensions I have to block pop-ups and other irritating visual elements.
posted by terretu at 7:19 AM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
I knew there was a running MeFi gag about cats in scanners but until today I didn't know the reason.
posted by hypnogogue at 7:25 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by hypnogogue at 7:25 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Seriously what is going on here ? I only have a little chunk of whitespace on the lower left, everything else is pretty full. My Firefox is pretty darn vanilla. I just maximized a window on my 15" macbook, loaded up Bread (a nice mid-weight page with a good spread of headings and images), and I get lines up to 138 characters long, and about a 0.5" of whitespace on the right. Is that what y'all are upset about, a half inch right margin?
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:33 AM on January 20, 2023
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:33 AM on January 20, 2023
I really, really despise dynamic designs that float the table of contents but not the menu. Don't make me scroll all the way back up to find the menu and home page link. Yes I could click "[Top]" but I shouldn't have to if I want to get back to the home page.
posted by ob1quixote at 7:38 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ob1quixote at 7:38 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Is that what y'all are upset about, a half inch right margin?
For reference, this is what I see. Note that the browser window is the full width of that image.
posted by Dysk at 7:47 AM on January 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
For reference, this is what I see. Note that the browser window is the full width of that image.
posted by Dysk at 7:47 AM on January 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
(And this is it with the 'expand' box clicked, which again, needs doing again for every new page you load, even if it's just following a link in the current tab. Chrome on mac.)
posted by Dysk at 7:49 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Dysk at 7:49 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Gah! The search box is gone. I need to click on the find button, which then expands leftwards into the blank space and then I have to type my query.
The strange thing is there it nothing between the Wikipedia logo and the search icon and nothing else seems to pop up in to that space. Why not just place the search input there, front and centre. Grar!
posted by techSupp0rt at 8:11 AM on January 20, 2023
The strange thing is there it nothing between the Wikipedia logo and the search icon and nothing else seems to pop up in to that space. Why not just place the search input there, front and centre. Grar!
posted by techSupp0rt at 8:11 AM on January 20, 2023
If you don't mind extensions, wikiwand has made wikipedia so much easier on the eyes.
posted by nushustu at 8:12 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by nushustu at 8:12 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm curious about how this is more 'welcoming'.
posted by MtDewd at 8:16 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by MtDewd at 8:16 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Thanks Dysk, that does help. Yeah that white space is a bit rough on the eyes, I guess your screen is just waay wider than mine. I think I'd struggle to read anything at the ~300 characters per line that it would take to fill the whitespace in your screenshot though.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:46 AM on January 20, 2023
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:46 AM on January 20, 2023
They just need to remember your expand preference with a cookie, problem solved. Main improvement is the table of contents on the left. I hate the old version where you read a 2 paragraph summary, then scrolled down to a weird TOC embedded in the page. Overall, looks great !
posted by caviar2d2 at 9:24 AM on January 20, 2023
posted by caviar2d2 at 9:24 AM on January 20, 2023
Is that what y'all are upset about, a half inch right margin?
Seems like a bit more than a half inch.
I saw this last night and thought I inadvertently hit some key or some goofy mouse gesture. Nice to know that it's not a problem on my end.
posted by Sphinx at 9:37 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Seems like a bit more than a half inch.
I saw this last night and thought I inadvertently hit some key or some goofy mouse gesture. Nice to know that it's not a problem on my end.
posted by Sphinx at 9:37 AM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
For reference, this is what I see.
Ooh, at least that's centered! On my laptop the articles take up the right 3/4 of the page, so the midpoint of most lines is around 65% or so to the right, which feels kind of disturbingly unbalanced.
Things like that, though - I tend to give them some time to settle, because often it's just a matter of being jarred by changes and I get used to them within a week or month or so. But accessibility stuff, like needing to click or scroll where I didn't before, is a different story, because even if I "get used" to it it has a certain cost to me, and a greater cost to people more disabled than I am.
posted by trig at 9:56 AM on January 20, 2023
Ooh, at least that's centered! On my laptop the articles take up the right 3/4 of the page, so the midpoint of most lines is around 65% or so to the right, which feels kind of disturbingly unbalanced.
Things like that, though - I tend to give them some time to settle, because often it's just a matter of being jarred by changes and I get used to them within a week or month or so. But accessibility stuff, like needing to click or scroll where I didn't before, is a different story, because even if I "get used" to it it has a certain cost to me, and a greater cost to people more disabled than I am.
posted by trig at 9:56 AM on January 20, 2023
Huh, my Wikipedia just now hiccuped and started showing me the new version. I wonder why I kept seeing the old version earlier?
The whitespace issue seems to be due to people with wide screens and their browser maximized, apparently they chose a fixed maximum width.
The random option is there, but now it's two clicks, one on the left side hamburger button then a second on the option for random in that menu.
I kinda like it. It's a bit cleaner having the TOC on the left and the menu hidden in a hamburger button. Mostly I never used the menu but the TOC seems really handy.
techSupp0rt Perhaps you've got a page render issue? The search bar is at the top of the article for me. You do have to scroll to the top of the article to get it, which is a bit annoying.
posted by sotonohito at 10:47 AM on January 20, 2023
The whitespace issue seems to be due to people with wide screens and their browser maximized, apparently they chose a fixed maximum width.
The random option is there, but now it's two clicks, one on the left side hamburger button then a second on the option for random in that menu.
I kinda like it. It's a bit cleaner having the TOC on the left and the menu hidden in a hamburger button. Mostly I never used the menu but the TOC seems really handy.
techSupp0rt Perhaps you've got a page render issue? The search bar is at the top of the article for me. You do have to scroll to the top of the article to get it, which is a bit annoying.
posted by sotonohito at 10:47 AM on January 20, 2023
My cursor just happened to hover over a hyperlink and THIS popped up on my screen.
Ceiling Matt is watching you masturbate.
posted by loquacious at 10:51 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Ceiling Matt is watching you masturbate.
posted by loquacious at 10:51 AM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Thanks. I hate it.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 11:22 AM on January 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 11:22 AM on January 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
On the iPad, I can no longer scroll the page vertically with my left thumb. Anyone else having that problem?
posted by soylent00FF00 at 12:50 PM on January 20, 2023
posted by soylent00FF00 at 12:50 PM on January 20, 2023
Thanks Dysk, that does help. Yeah that white space is a bit rough on the eyes, I guess your screen is just waay wider than mine
It's 16:9, 1080p which I gather is pretty standard for computer monitors these days? It's not some ultra wide-screen thing.
posted by Dysk at 12:52 PM on January 20, 2023
It's 16:9, 1080p which I gather is pretty standard for computer monitors these days? It's not some ultra wide-screen thing.
posted by Dysk at 12:52 PM on January 20, 2023
Well, it's not much worse.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:54 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:54 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Damned with faint butt
posted by flabdablet at 1:02 PM on January 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 1:02 PM on January 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
A redesign that I like more than what it replaced? Surely the end is nigh.
posted by dmd at 1:16 PM on January 20, 2023
posted by dmd at 1:16 PM on January 20, 2023
I've been using a userstyle that I like better than the redesign but which is now basically broken, so that sucks. The redesign definitely feels better than the old vanilla wikipedia tho.
posted by Aleyn at 2:51 PM on January 20, 2023
posted by Aleyn at 2:51 PM on January 20, 2023
Of note, if you create a Wikipedia account you can also change the default style back to Vector legacy in the site's appearance preferences and have the preference stick, as opposed to the query string which reverts when you navigate away.
posted by Aleyn at 3:03 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Aleyn at 3:03 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Kind of reminds of early Facebook, when that seemed like a nice clean design in contrast to the excesses of Myspace (if only we knew then etc). Seems fine I guess.
posted by rodlymight at 4:50 PM on January 20, 2023
posted by rodlymight at 4:50 PM on January 20, 2023
Yeah, I think they beta-tested the layout on the French.
Oh, I saw a photo of huge protests in France. Now I know why!
The redesigned page shows a little image of some Generic Ethnic People and a message about how this change makes WP more "accessible" to non-Westerners. I'm not sure how
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 5:00 PM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oh, I saw a photo of huge protests in France. Now I know why!
The redesigned page shows a little image of some Generic Ethnic People and a message about how this change makes WP more "accessible" to non-Westerners. I'm not sure how
- hiding the available languages behind a pull-down menu, instead of listing them in plain sight
- getting rid of the search box, and
- shrinking the font size, compared to what the same page looks like in the original style (at least on my computer screen)
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 5:00 PM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Like other Mac Firefox users above, I'm not seeing a lot of white space on the right by default, but when I zoom out (⌘–) a couple times, the page starts to look exactly like Sphinx's screenshot. So I would hazard that Firefox has a larger default font size than some other browsers, and as you make your window narrower, Wikipedia drops inessential white space before trimming line length (thank goodness). Experimenting with even narrower windows, eventually the ToC sidebar gets sacrificed too!
posted by aws17576 at 5:00 PM on January 20, 2023
posted by aws17576 at 5:00 PM on January 20, 2023
MonoBook skin welded into place. Won't be having any of this smart phone design for fat fingers nonsense...
posted by jim in austin at 7:48 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by jim in austin at 7:48 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
'Let's change desktop to look as though you clicked a link without noticing that the URL directed to the gross and unappealing mobile version!' 'Great!'
Ugh
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:56 PM on January 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
Ugh
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:56 PM on January 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
Jon Robson: The new Wikipedia appearance that took the whole village / All the other things we changed in addition to Wikipedia’s look. Lots of details on the development process.
posted by Nelson at 2:09 PM on January 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Nelson at 2:09 PM on January 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
I am really cheesed-off that I have to re-open the left side navigation every. single. time. I go to a new page. That menu should stay open if someone opens it. It contains site-wide navigation.
One of my favorite things I like to do on Wikipedia is to go on a Random Article safari, clicking the Random button repeatedly to see what surprises pop-up that pique my interests. This redesign pretty much kills that off completely, if I have to click that hamburger constantly. No more discovery for me. I can see that my time on the site is going to be radically trimmed-down now.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:36 AM on January 22, 2023
One of my favorite things I like to do on Wikipedia is to go on a Random Article safari, clicking the Random button repeatedly to see what surprises pop-up that pique my interests. This redesign pretty much kills that off completely, if I have to click that hamburger constantly. No more discovery for me. I can see that my time on the site is going to be radically trimmed-down now.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:36 AM on January 22, 2023
Thorzdad, I don't know if this helps at all but at least on desktop, you can turn the random article link into a bookmark and either place an icon for it on a toolbar such that it's a single click, or (if you're on Firefox, and maybe other browsers) you can give it a keyword such that you can type ctrl-l r (or whatever the keyword is if you choose something longer than 'r') to get a random page. (At least, that's the shortcut on windows/linux, not sure what it is on macs).
In general though, wikipedia really needs built-in keyboard shortcuts for things that currently require clicks, because, again, accessibility.
posted by trig at 8:00 AM on January 22, 2023
In general though, wikipedia really needs built-in keyboard shortcuts for things that currently require clicks, because, again, accessibility.
posted by trig at 8:00 AM on January 22, 2023
Thorzdad & trig: There are many keyboard shortcuts, including for random article. They are shown with a mouseover - screenshot - random-page is alt+shift+X.
posted by Penumbra at 1:25 PM on January 23, 2023
posted by Penumbra at 1:25 PM on January 23, 2023
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"The updated Wikipedia interface does not remove any previous functionality".
The "Random article" link which used to be in the top left list is gone [somewhere else?]. In very idle moments, I'd pick a random page and see how many clicks would get me back to
Chase County, Kansashome. The Wikipedia Universe seems to have about 4-degrees of separation.posted by BobTheScientist at 11:37 PM on January 19, 2023 [1 favorite]