Live data from Hacker News

Explore Wikipedia's New Look

wikimediafoundation.org

161–170 of 288 posts

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mac OS … seems to really expect you to manage windows by having them always be full screen and swiping between desktops. Which makes changing browser window geometry sub-optimal. That hasn't been my experience at all, in fact for me macOS works better when windows are mostly sized to fit their content. Windows and Windows-like Linux DEs is where I feel pressure to maximize everything.

I agree. Anecdotally, I also see more PCs with maximized windows in the wild, and more Macs with smaller windows. (I don't really see many people using Linux in the wild.)

Interesting.

I'm curious if you're seeing this on desktops? My sample of mac users is very heavily biased towards laptops (and I've only used macos on a laptop) - but I've seen the exact opposite.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pardon me asking, but what font (cipher? language?) are your tab titles and menus in? I don't recognize it, and I'm familiar with quite a few ciphers. (I initially thought it was another language, but it's clearly a transliteration of English.)

It’s just a silly font, still a work in progress. Inspired by https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@Nifflas/109330930338202763

Could you share what font editor you used, and whether you're using ligatures?

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#163
post #37

I don't like the extra padding that every designer is adding into every web site and application. I need to keep multiple sites/apps on my screen as I need to look at references, work on my tasks, and communicate with others. but every designer thinks I should maximize their site/app. It's forcing me to resize and move windows all the time.

For whatever reason, especially with a bigger screen, I find that wider text becomes uncomfortable and somewhat exhausting to read. I'm not sure what the right portions/ratio are, but with a 27in screen it's definitely noticeable.

This has been studied a lot in design. Most people prefer line lengths in the 50-60 character region. Some studies show lengths up to 75 to be appropriate, but that’s about the limit. Past that people have a hard time keeping track of where they are and find reading to take more effort.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#164

Details on the design process: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Desktop_Improveme... - On Wikipedia, and any MediaWiki installation, you can add the useskin query parameter to the URL to change skins on a page, even when not logged in. Current (vector-2022): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59th_Academy_Awards?useskin=ve... Previous (vector): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59th_Academy_Awards?useskin=ve... Olde…

It seems like Monobook is the only skin whose styling matches all the boxes and tables used in articles. (Minerva makes a valiant attempt to restyle infoboxes but doesn't touch other elements like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Masters_(snooker)#Main_dr... .) It's forward-thinking, placing the search box in the sidebar where it doesn't take up valuable vertical real estate on widescreen displays. It doesn't try to shove controls in between the title of the article and the content of the article. It's even got a responsive layout for mobile devices!

I say they should have bumped up the font size a notch, added a max width option, and saved themselves thirteen years of redesign work. Web design truly did hit its peak in the early 2000s.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#165
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Anecdotally, I also see more PCs with maximized windows in the wild, and more Macs with smaller windows. (I don't really see many people using Linux in the wild.)

Interesting. I'm curious if you're seeing this on desktops? My sample of mac users is very heavily biased towards laptops (and I've only used macos on a laptop) - but I've seen the exact opposite.

Desktops and laptops. I do see more Mac users with maximized and/or full screen windows on particularly small laptops.

(And I'll note that in my own usage, when I'm on my 11" Macbook Air I full screen most apps. But that's a weird edge case due to the screen size.)

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s just a silly font, still a work in progress. Inspired by https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@Nifflas/109330930338202763

Could you share what font editor you used, and whether you're using ligatures?

FontForge, despite its antiquated interface, and liberal use of ligatures:

https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/QmVMS6LFUEqJJdnXDVuVZWRDSHT...

The biggest challenge has been keeping it legible while dense. Ultimately I’d like to give it aesthetics similar to a roman serif, but for now still experimenting with the basic construction.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you share what font editor you used, and whether you're using ligatures?

FontForge, despite its antiquated interface, and liberal use of ligatures: https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/QmVMS6LFUEqJJdnXDVuVZWRDSHT... The biggest challenge has been keeping it legible while dense. Ultimately I’d like to give it aesthetics similar to a roman serif, but for now still experimenting with the basic construction.

Lovely, thank you! Thinking of giving this a shot. Let me know if you post about the font anywhere.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#170
If you hate it, it's probably because it's different. You'll get used to it. It's similar to how every time a company re-designs their logo, there's always a huge backlash solely because it's change, and people do not like change.

It's a really nice improvement from the previous design.

Post reply on HN