Hello everyone, this is just an FYI from the Wikimedia Foundation about
their proposed change to the layout of Wikipedia (English) and a request
for comments. Please see the forwarded email for more information.
Regards,
Douglas Scott
Director
Wikimedia South Africa
Website: wikimedia.org.za
Phone: (+27) 079 515 8727
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---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Szymon Grabarczuk <sgrabarczuk(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2023 at 22:49
Subject: Change of the default interface for desktop on English Wikipedia
To:
Cc: Vidhu Goyal <vgoyal(a)wikimedia.org>rg>, Barbara Kandek <
bkandek(a)wikimedia.org>gt;, Lauren Dickinson <ldickinson(a)wikimedia.org>rg>, Olga
Vasileva <ovasileva(a)wikimedia.org>
Dear Wikimedia Affiliates, Representatives, and Staff,
After many years of work, community conversations, and completing the
changes specified by the consensus of the Request for Comment
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Deployment_of_Vector_(2022)>,
the *Vector 2022 skin* is finally ready for deployment as the default
desktop skin on English Wikipedia. The deployment is scheduled for January
18th, at 15:00 UTC.
Vector 2022 is a skin <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Skins>
developed between 2019 and 2023 by the Wikimedia Foundation Web team
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web> with the goal of making the
interface more welcoming and usable for readers and maintaining utility for
existing editors. It introduces changes
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Deployment_of_Vector_(2022)/More_about_Vector_(2022)#New_features>
to the navigation and layout of the site, adds persistent elements (such as
a sticky header and Table of Contents), and makes changes to the overall
styling of the page. Currently, the skin is the default on more than 300
projects of various sizes, accounting for about 1.5 billion page views per
month. On English Wikipedia, it is the most popular non-default skin, with
more active editors using it than any other non-default skin (Monobook,
Timeless, etc).
While these changes will provide a much better experience for Wikipedia
readers and contributors (and a cleaner interface will make work easier for
community developers and staff working on the website in the future),
they’ll also help to remove barriers to the Wikimedia movement. The new
Wikipedia desktop marks the start of an ongoing process of user empowerment
and improvements across the entire Wikimedia ecosystem, as well as an
exciting and meaningful step in furthering Wikimedia’s knowledge as a
service and knowledge equity
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017#Our_strategic_direction:_Service_and_Equity>
efforts. An easier-to-navigate Wikipedia will help more users, regardless
of their tech literacy or familiarity with the platform, to access and
contribute to free knowledge.
Our ask for you today: Please help us spread the word across your
communities and let us know if you have any questions and concerns.
You will find more information about the project on the landing page on
English Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vector_2022>.
There are instructions on how to turn the skin off as well as information
about what will happen on the day of deployment. You can also read more
about the Desktop Improvements Project on the project page
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Desktop_Improvements> and our
FAQ
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Desktop_Improvements/Frequently_asked_questions>.
18 January at 17:00 UTC, a new Diff Blog post
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/01/18/wikipedias-new-look-makes-it-easier-to-use-for-everyone/>
will be published, too. (Until then, this link isn't working). If you are
interested in more details, especially if you may be approached by the
local media yourself, reach out to us directly.
We’d also like to note that we will receive a lot of feedback after the
change - both positive and negative. This is expected. Generally, across
the industry, redesigns are rarely welcomed with complete acceptance and
immediate pushback can often be strong. Based on our testing, it takes a
few days to a few weeks for users to get used to the change and begin
appreciating the new features. If you think specific feedback needs our
attention - feel free to reach out or ping us.
Thank you for the continued partnership in serving the Mission.
On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Web team,
Sincerely,
Szymon Grabarczuk (he/him)
Senior Community Relations Specialist
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>