Wikipedia is the world’s most admired and accepted encyclopedia. It recently got a facelift, which is the very first time in 10 years. The overall motive for this step, according to Wikimedia Foundation, is to enhance the usability both for readers and contributors. Since, as per the organization, it also helps new users that come online for the first time. Therefore, this enhances the overall experience, and the changes applicable for both mobile and desktop users.
Wikipedia desktop gets a redesign
Moving ahead, the desktop version of Wikipedia has got major renovate of the UI. This is intended to change the way readers and editors interact with the website. This facelift of the Wikipedia desktop interface comprises a new table of contents, a distinctly situated language tool, new line width, and font size control, a collapsible sidebar, and more. Additionally, it also improvises the search experience.
Notably, the new update doesn’t hamper any previous functionality. Despite this adds new tools in order to further improve the overall website experience for users. This new update has already started to roll out to all English-language desktops. While it has already been live on 94 percent of the 318 active language versions respectively.
The organization mentioned that the upgrades are been made possible in collaboration with more than 30 volunteer groups across the globe. It includes India, Indonesia, Ghana, and Argentina.
“The changes make it easier for people to find and learn from the work of our incredible volunteers. These features were created with feedback from readers and volunteers from all over the world, aiming to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse audience, while keeping the simple and straightforward feel that millions of people have come to trust over the last 22 years,” said Selena Deckelmann, Chief Product and Technology Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation.
Quick summary of the improvements the Wikipmeda foundation
- Wikipedia now adopted a new and improved search experience. The same has been made with the use of images and descriptions to make it easier to find articles. While the organization says these changes brought a 30 increase in traffic by users while testing.
- There is now a more differentiated placed language-switching tool. It allows multilingual readers to access articles in their language and also contributes to the website. With this improvisation, users can now quickly and easily switch between 300+ languages.
- The updated header now contains the most frequently used tools such as Search, Page name, and Sections. This results in a more than 15 percent decrease in scroll rates.
- The upgrades also add a new table of contents, that helps the user to navigate throughout the reading experience.
Furthermore, the non-profit organization has done similar alterations to its mobile website in recent years. This is intended, in order to achieve improved readability on the mobile website and offer a better experience to users.
