There are few web pages more recognizable than Wikipedia. For the sake of simplicity, the online encyclopedia is traditionally based on a black-on-white layout in which text takes precedence over everything else.
[Cómo consultar toda la Wikipedia sin conexión en tu móvil]
It’s not that Wikipedia hasn’t changed over time, but the truth is, you probably haven’t noticed. From time to time new parts have been added and rough edges smoothed out, but in general we see the same Wikipedia every time we enter for the past 10 years. This will change.
This is the new Wikipedia
The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia and other free information projects, has announced what is probably the biggest change to one of the most visited web pages on the entire Internet; and yet you may find it difficult to find differences.
It’s on purpose. The goal of the redesign, unlike other web pages, was not to adapt to changing times or embrace new technologies. Basically, Wikipedia hasn’t changed at all, and the only changes are in navigation and layout.
If we write an article in the new Wikipedia, perhaps what strikes us most is that the text no longer occupies the full possible width, but still occupies the same width in the center of the page; This is very noticeable on large monitors, where the old design required us to move our gaze from one end of the screen to the other, whereas now we don’t have to move it from the center. The improvement is obvious and the reason why it was implemented too.
You may also notice that there are now fewer distractions. Wikipedia now has a menu that is normally hidden and only appears when you click on the three lines icon in the upper left corner. This makes it possible to give more importance to the table of contents of the article, from which we can jump directly to the part that interests us, and which will always remain visible.
It’s easy to see the influence of mobile apps in this redesign, where space is put to much better use without affecting usability. Another example is the new language switcher in the upper right corner, from which we can quickly switch to other language versions of the page.
To test the new page, we will have to use the English version of Wikipedia, since for the moment the new design has not been implemented in the rest of the languages; the Spanish version of Wikipedia still uses the old layout.
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