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Show HN: I made a modern web UI for Wikipedia

modernwiki.app

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

#41

Post by micromacrofoot »

redleader55 wrote: post #9

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.

There's a point where long line lengths start negatively impacting reading speed, so a lot of designers incorporate that idea as a hard limit in their layouts.

It might be better to leave it up to users, because it's a very common complaint on many sites where text width is limited.

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

#42

Post by munificent »

crocodiletears wrote: post #18

From the screenshot: I absolutely adore the positioning of the table of contents. The design looks clean, utilitarian, and overall well executed. That being said - and this is more a critique of modern design - I absolutely hate the suffocating roundness of the element corners. It's an aesthetic that drips with overfamiliarity and a patronizing attitude. It's the visual equivalent of being put in a padded room, or ha…

That's, uh, a pretty intense reaction to some curves.

There is a long history of rounded corners in graphic design. In the real world, perfectly sharp edges do not exist. Even on the printed page, ink bleed tends to gently round all corners.

This is a good thing, because sharp corners interact poorly with some parts of our visual system. Sharp corners in a design can be as jarring as extremely high contrast or saturated colors, which are also best avoided in designs where the intent is to let the viewer focus on the content and not the form.

A slight amount of corner rounding in digital graphic design can lead to a look that is easier on the eyes, less distracting, and more approachable. (The design here uses more rounding than necessary, but I think it's driven largely by fashion and the above principles and not some dystopian desire to infantilize you.)

See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_illusion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_inhibition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_glare

http://people.sunyit.edu/~lepres/thesis/principles/63_pdfsam...

http://macknik.neuralcorrelate.com/pdf/articles/troncoso_et_...

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

#43

Post by gjsman-1000 »

crocodiletears wrote: post #37
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person who designs web applications to look somewhat modern because that's what is now-days expected, whenever critics go to such extreme similes about modern web design and their hatred for it... it's such an extreme opinion I tune them out entirely. You can't cater to radicals.

Most people don't particularly care how things look, so long as they're reasonably familiar, well-ordered, visually inoffensive, and functional. After that, it's optimizing for performance metrics and ensuring that the client is happy with the aesthetic of the final product. Client usually wants to emulate some elements of the latest aesthetic trend. Can't blame designers for what's ultimately a fashion trend. Especi…

It's more that, I've read critics of modern web design. And while I can understand that some people don't like it (myself included for some things), the visceral hatred that some people have in their rants against it is so great, I can't possibly send that to a client with a straight face. It's so extreme it's absolutely useless.

Edit: At some point, while you can agree with some of the critics' points, they become completely out-of-touch with reality and the typical user.

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

#47

Post by BoumTAC »

Kwpolska wrote: post #28
BoumTAC wrote: post #19

Thanks the UI is great. I don't know why but since at least a year we have a new design on the french version of wikipedia (you can check by yourself on any wikipedia page in french). But the english UI is bad it's hard to read on large screen. With your extension is really nice.

If you’re logged in, you might get the new design on English Wikipedia too. It can be turned on or off if you so prefer: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Preferenc...

If I unchecked "Use Legacy Vector" I still got the old UI(the one which is too large on large screen) on the english version

edit: I do need to uncheck the "Use Legacy Vector" to have the new design. I don't know why, maybe it was a cache issue but now it works.

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