Live data from Hacker News

Explore Wikipedia's New Look

wikimediafoundation.org

231–240 of 288 posts

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#233

My initial take: I actually like this a lot. The body text is narrower which makes for easier reading. The sidebar with an updating highlight of current place in document is really nice too. I don't mind the "wasted space": Wikipedia is primarily about reading, and any well typeset book or web page should have generous margins so the line length is not too long.

My first take: it’s different so it sucks. The lack of visual separation between the main content and the menu on the left is atrocious.

Second take: oh wait, the menu in the left was completely useless and they replaced it with the table of contents for that particular entry. That’s actually a welcome change. I’ll get used to “different so it sucks” soon enough anyway, that’s my fault not theirs.

It’s kind of fascinating when you catch yourself having knee-jerk reactions and “watch” your brain correct them.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#234

My initial take: I actually like this a lot. The body text is narrower which makes for easier reading. The sidebar with an updating highlight of current place in document is really nice too. I don't mind the "wasted space": Wikipedia is primarily about reading, and any well typeset book or web page should have generous margins so the line length is not too long.

I was worried about the narrow body impact on table data since wikipedia often has the most concise charts for comparison. Although the styling looks broken, at the least the data isn't hidden inside an inner scroll area

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_30_series?useskin=vect...

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#235

Great, now it takes two clicks to switch languages old.wikipedia.org when?

Plus it now requires typing input, or you have to scroll through an annoying menu that sorts them by region and not importance.

Judging by the rave reviews this gets though, it seems that people who use the site as opposed to just wanting pretty design are in the minority. If most users don't even switch languages or such, I wonder how many readers check the citations and discussions before blindly believing what random anonymous authors tell them.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#237
post #52

My initial take: I actually like this a lot. The body text is narrower which makes for easier reading. The sidebar with an updating highlight of current place in document is really nice too. I don't mind the "wasted space": Wikipedia is primarily about reading, and any well typeset book or web page should have generous margins so the line length is not too long.

Text width is important, but this is not a solution, zooming and changing browser window geometry is.

What an absolutely absurd thing to say.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wasted screen space Don't fall for that mental trap. White space is not wasted space.

Not always, but it often is. Zoomed to 200% the new design is fine though. Content fills the entire screen and the floating table of contents disappears. Works for me at least.

And now the text is huge. Sounds like you either are sitting too far away from your monitor, or need to have your eyes tested if that actually feels comfortable.

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#239

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 well without borders. You need to have a justification for adding things - what does a border add here? Other than making it feel more boxed-in?

Re: Explore Wikipedia's New Look

#240

Ewww what's with this terrible trend of wasting the majority of the screen space on a 16:9 monitor like this. Let it fit the window width, if someone needs it to be narrow let it adjust itself appropriately.

White space isn't wasted space. It makes the page infinitely more readable to limit line lengths. Yes, you could have reduced your window width before. No, you shouldn't have to do that to get a comfortable reading experience.
Post reply on HN