[Wikimedia-l] Apparently, Wikipedia is ugly

[Svip]

On 14 July 2012 18:12, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yesterday I wanted to make a point to a friend. I tried to do it by having
> the facts that are sourced in the Wikipedia article read by the person who
> did not have the information available. Reading the article did not really
> happen because of the problems with the lay-out as presented on the screen
> of a laptop.

That must be a tiny laptop screen.  I really have not experienced
Wikipedia being difficult to read, and I have read it in _any_
browser; on phones (both smartphones and non-smartphones); text-based
browsers; through obscure terminals, and yes laptops and desktops.
Wikipedia is one of the few websites that actually puts its content
above its clutter.  Essentially; if you have trouble reading
Wikipedia, you are going have a lot of trouble browsing the web.

> Wikipedia is the encyclopaedia everyone can edit. Not everybody does read.
> It is like the issues with Wikibooks and Wikisource, we care about editing
> and the reading is largely a by product.

Well, I personally think that is the wrong philosophy.  Wikipedia -
and wikis in general - should be about the readers first, and the
editors first.  Why?  Because essentially all editors are readers as
well, and the whole reason we are all here to edit is for someone else
to read it.