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Explore Wikipedia's New Look

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Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#221

Post by rasz »

karaterobot wrote: post #20

I don't need a header to follow me down the page, in fact I'd prefer it not to. On the very rare occasion when I need to scroll all the way to the top of the page, I have no problem figuring out how to do that. Feels like they're introducing a persistent UI element without a benefit. Benefit to me, anyway. Maybe they heard from a lot of users who were having trouble remembering where the header was, I can't say. I do…

> Feels like they're introducing a persistent UI element without a benefit.

guess what else will be persistent when donation drive banner gets turned on

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#223

Post by pndy »

trynewideas wrote: post #12

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…

I find timeless most visually pleasing - it does bring some professional look to Wikipedia. And it also provides direct access to pages in other languages without additional clicks, which is important for me because it's the feature I'm using all the time.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#224

Post by thiht »

mostlysimilar wrote: post #70

Floating table of contents on the left is a nice feature, but why is the styling so plain? It's just links floating in a void. Why do modern designers hate borders so much?

Because it works without borders. Do you have any trouble differentiating the sidebar from the content? I'm gonna guess no. Hence, no need for a border.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#225

Post by thiht »

paganel wrote: post #208
trynewideas wrote: post #12

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…

Yeah, I hate it, it introduced lots of white space (I'd say about 20-25% of the screen) on the right-hand side. I don't see how this new version [1] is better than this old version [2] [1] https://imgur.com/a/IZHxqOy [2] https://imgur.com/a/q1PD3WY

To read one full line on [2] moving my eyes is not enough, I have to move my head. It's tiring, and when you're at the end of a line it makes it harder to come back to the beginning of the next line. Just reading a few lines on your screenshot, I ended up reading the 3rd line 2 times because my eyes went back to the wrong line, and because the lines are long I forgot the beginning of the line I just read.

So yeah I'd say [1] is strictly better for readability than [2].

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#226

Post by thiht »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #81
gpm wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mac OS (and some linux desktops) 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. Even on desktops where it's reasonably easy, it's pretty annoying to have to resize the window when you go to different sites to get them to format properly.

> 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.

Agree, and this is one of the things that infuriates me with macOS. The new "Settings" app can't even be maximized horizontally anymore.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#227

Post by zozbot234 »

arrrg wrote: post #215
paganel wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I hate it, it introduced lots of white space (I'd say about 20-25% of the screen) on the right-hand side. I don't see how this new version [1] is better than this old version [2] [1] https://imgur.com/a/IZHxqOy [2] https://imgur.com/a/q1PD3WY

The reason for this is readability. Long lines of text are empirically bad for readability, making it hard for readers to find the correct next line. However, the line length Wikipedia picked seems to be a bad compromise. At around 120 characters per line it‘s double the recommend line length (60 characters). If you look at newspapers, magazines and books you will see the 60 character rule of thumb adhered to pretty…

> mostly because scrolling is fundamentally incompatible with columns

How so? You just scroll horizontally rather than vertically. Even actual scrolls come in both vertical and horizontal (column-based) formats.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#228

Post by kome »

pndy wrote: post #223
trynewideas wrote: post #12

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…

I find timeless most visually pleasing - it does bring some professional look to Wikipedia. And it also provides direct access to pages in other languages without additional clicks, which is important for me because it's the feature I'm using all the time.

I think "timeless" is ugly, unprofessional and not very usable. i'm happy about vector 2022, i think they did a really good job. but, of course, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#229

Post by justaj »

toastercat wrote: post #66

I think it's nice actually. It also works great with JavaScript disabled! Thanks Wikipedia.

> also works great with JavaScript disabled

That was my primary concern. Last thing I need is to have a JS-only Wikipedia added to the seemingly ever-groing list of websites that try to squeeze as much data from their visitors as possible and using "functionality and features" as an excuse.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#230

Post by paganel »

thiht wrote: post #225
paganel wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I hate it, it introduced lots of white space (I'd say about 20-25% of the screen) on the right-hand side. I don't see how this new version [1] is better than this old version [2] [1] https://imgur.com/a/IZHxqOy [2] https://imgur.com/a/q1PD3WY

To read one full line on [2] moving my eyes is not enough, I have to move my head. It's tiring, and when you're at the end of a line it makes it harder to come back to the beginning of the next line. Just reading a few lines on your screenshot, I ended up reading the 3rd line 2 times because my eyes went back to the wrong line, and because the lines are long I forgot the beginning of the line I just read. So yeah I'd…

> , I have to move my head.

I don't.

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