Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#1

Post by sjdz » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:28 PM UTC

Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia
modernwiki.app

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#2

Post by sjdz » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:28 PM UTC

Hey HN,

I made this free browser extension that modernizes the Wikipedia design. I started making this for myself just because I wanted more of a "reader mode" like experience (narrower column, nicer fonts, dark mode etc). Then I got a bit carried away and implemented everything I could think of for a modern redesign of Wikipedia. Hope you like it!

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#3

Post by haolez » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:56 PM UTC

Looks good, but I think the adjective "modern" to be overly aggressive towards other design trends. From what I saw, the design trend here is for a flat and rounded interface with dynamic searches.

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#4

Post by Conlectus » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:58 PM UTC

You may be interested to know that Wikipedia has a page dedicated to such redesigns[1]. Perhaps there are some to draw inspiration from. Regardless, maybe it would be worth contributing to the list.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unsolicited_redesign...

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#5

Post by sjdz » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

Conlectus wrote: post #4

You may be interested to know that Wikipedia has a page dedicated to such redesigns[1]. Perhaps there are some to draw inspiration from. Regardless, maybe it would be worth contributing to the list. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unsolicited_redesign...

Thanks for that, I did actually come across that page during development when I was searching for redesign concepts. There's a few dead links there, but it seems redesigning Wikipedia is a very popular pursuit for designers as there are tons of designs out there (on dribbble etc). I've tried to incorporate all the best ideas from these into this extension, but I'm open to any suggestions for improvements! I will also try adding this one to the list.

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#6

Post by 0des » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

OP, thanks for making this, I bet it was fun to build.

That being said, I want someone to do the opposite of what this does. Less chrome, less bytes over the wire, less predictive search, less "flatness?", less timely, more timeless.

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#7

Post by nguyenkien » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 5:16 PM UTC

Why you need this permission "Read your browsing history"? I think you only need access to: "*://*.wikipedia.org/*"

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#8

Post by sjdz » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

haolez wrote: post #3

Looks good, but I think the adjective "modern" to be overly aggressive towards other design trends. From what I saw, the design trend here is for a flat and rounded interface with dynamic searches.

Thanks, glad you like it :) With the name, I was just thinking more in terms of "modernized"... as in, something more modern than the current Wikipedia design... but I get your point! I'll have a think about it.

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#9

Post by redleader55 » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

The design is interesting, but I can't help wonder why the design insists on keeping a specific page width instead of using the whole browser window. Even worse, for really wide pages, it just shows a column in the middle.

Re: Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

#10

Post by jbreitbart » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 5:23 PM UTC

0des wrote: post #6

OP, thanks for making this, I bet it was fun to build. That being said, I want someone to do the opposite of what this does. Less chrome, less bytes over the wire, less predictive search, less "flatness?", less timely, more timeless .

https://wikiless.org/ is probably what you are looking for. There are also extensions that automatically redirect Wikipedia links