Wikipedia has been an integral part of web culture for nearly twenty years, allowing users to browse millions of text-dense encyclopedias compiled from multiple sources from their computer, tablet or phone. Now the overall look of Wikipedia on desktop is seeing a makeover for the first time in a decade to make the site more friendly to new users.
You can browse through all the proposed new features in this MediaWiki post, and there are some animated GIFs to show you what they might look like. We liked how the new table of contents feature looked. We tend to read Wiki pages of public figures a lot, and this can make it much easier to skip certain sections of the page without having to scroll down on my computer.
This will make navigating longer pages much easier! Image from Wikipedia
The collapsible sidebar will be the first change to be rolled out; This will allow users to collapse the menu on the left side of each page to reduce distractions and limit irrelevant content and links to the left of the screen for easier focus. The site will also add an easy one-click button to switch the language of the page you’re reading.
Wikipedia will also add improvements to the site’s search tool to make it easier to find other pages and will reconfigure the logo to make it smaller on each Wikipedia page. Image: From Wikipedia
The Wikimedia Foundation, the site’s parent company, announced in a post that the changes will happen “gradually over a long period of time,” allowing users to test new features before they’re officially rolled out, but it plans to completely redesign the look for the desktop version of Wikipedia by the end of 2021.
He did not mention whether the mobile version will get the same redesign.
