Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point. • Hacker News Board

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#11

Post by waboremo » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 4:50 PM UTC

lemoncookiechip wrote: post #6

There's so much wasted space to the left. And still no dark mode.

There isn't wasted space. The left supports the table of contents, which can get quite long and layered. Plus it also supports the expanding top menu button. The right side can be expanded on by clicking the square button at the bottom if you're not a fan of the "narrow" reading mode.

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#12

Post by karaterobot » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 4:55 PM UTC

kibwen wrote: post #2

I noticed that the Wikipedia page for "Wikipedia" allows you to preview the new design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia The top comment from yesterday's HN submission mentions how you can configure Wikipedia (or any MediaWiki) page to use whatever theme you like, including all the previous themes, which are still actively maintained: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34431533

Only if you create an account and log in, right? I've gotten along without having a Wikipedia account for the last 20 years, I guess now I have to make one. If that was a product goal, it was a very sneaky success.

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#13

Post by micheal12 » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#14

Post by micheal12 » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#15

Post by lycos » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 4:57 PM UTC

kibwen wrote: post #2

I noticed that the Wikipedia page for "Wikipedia" allows you to preview the new design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia The top comment from yesterday's HN submission mentions how you can configure Wikipedia (or any MediaWiki) page to use whatever theme you like, including all the previous themes, which are still actively maintained: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34431533

Just to add on this `?useskin=vector-2022` will show the new one.

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#16

Post by jklinger410 » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 4:59 PM UTC

kibwen wrote: post #2

I noticed that the Wikipedia page for "Wikipedia" allows you to preview the new design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia The top comment from yesterday's HN submission mentions how you can configure Wikipedia (or any MediaWiki) page to use whatever theme you like, including all the previous themes, which are still actively maintained: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34431533

Looks like the white space on the right side is a perfect width for banner ads.

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#17

Post by prvc » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 5:00 PM UTC

That's completely false. Earlier, when first viewing a Wikipedia page today, I experienced the same (very) mild panic that typically accompanies visiting the mobile page by accident. A regression in the visual appeal of the layout, in its readability at a glance, and in the efficiency of its use of space. Earlier design could be considered "iconic", so this change is especially detrimental.

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#18

Post by gburdell3 » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 5:02 PM UTC

prvc wrote: post #17

That's completely false. Earlier, when first viewing a Wikipedia page today, I experienced the same (very) mild panic that typically accompanies visiting the mobile page by accident. A regression in the visual appeal of the layout, in its readability at a glance, and in the efficiency of its use of space. Earlier design could be considered "iconic", so this change is especially detrimental.

I also thought I was served the mobile site at first, but after using the new site a bit I actually quite like it. One of my longstanding complaints with the old design was that using the full width of the screen for text is very hard to read on a modern monitor, so I'm glad to see they narrowed it down a bit. I also really like the floating table of contents.

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#19

Post by yccs27 » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 5:03 PM UTC

chiffre01 wrote: post #4

why is there so much white space ?

I like it because I want to focus on the text, not the visual noise around it . Also a smaller text column is better for readability

Re: Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.

#20

Post by kibwen » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 5:05 PM UTC

karaterobot wrote: post #12

kibwen wrote: post #2

I noticed that the Wikipedia page for "Wikipedia" allows you to preview the new design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia The top comment from yesterday's HN submission mentions how you can configure Wikipedia (or any MediaWiki) page to use whatever theme you like, including all the previous themes, which are still actively maintained: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34431533

Only if you create an account and log in, right? I've gotten along without having a Wikipedia account for the last 20 years, I guess now I have to make one. If that was a product goal, it was a very sneaky success.

As mentioned in the above HN link, you don't need to log in. If you're annoyed by the logged-out approach of appending a query parameter to the URL, other people in sibling threads shared Greasemonkey scripts (or whatever they're called these days) for doing so automatically.