A proposal to do that has already been started by yours truely. See talk:main_page On Jul 15, 2012 6:47 AM, "Richard Symonds" <richard.symo...@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
> Maybe if we ran a competition for designers to redesign the wikipedia > mainpage? > > Richard Symonds > Wikimedia UK > 0207 065 0992 > Disclaimer viewable at > http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Email_disclaimer > Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk > > > > On 14 July 2012 19:24, Andreas Kolbe <jayen...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > I do think the Wikimedia sites look dated, and very "male", too. > > > > One example I always think of when this issue comes up is Wikifashion: > > > > http://wikifashion.com/wiki/Main_Page > > > > I would love for Wikipedia to have optional skins like that, made by > > graphic designers, just like you can have all sorts of bells and whistles > > for your browser. > > > > Commons is another project that has a very clunky look. I mean, look at > > that main page. This is an image hosting project, for Christ's sake. I > > discussed this with Magnus Manske a few weeks ago at a meet-up, and he > > showed me how Flickr offers people ways to explore their new content, > like > > this for example, showcasing recent uploads: > > > > http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ > > http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/2012/07/ > > > > Here is Pinterest, which also has a real-time format visualising a flow > of > > images: > > > > http://pinterest.com/ > > > > These sites are beautiful to look at. If Commons were properly designed, > > its front end would not have hundreds of text hyperlinks, but would show > > off its new images. > > > > > > On Sat, Jul 14, 2012 at 11:42 PM, Michel Vuijlsteke <wikipe...@zog.org > > >wrote: > > > > > On 14 July 2012 23:48, David Richfield <davidrichfi...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > > > I really really don't get all this talk about Wikipedia being ugly. > > > > To me it's a great example of how text really can move from markup to > > > > a well-laid-out website with a coherent design philosophy. Wikipedia > > > > generates results which adapt to window size very gracefully without > > > > taking the cop-out of forcing all the content to run down the center > > > > of the page in a fixed size. > > > > > > > > > > Okay, "ugly" was a poor choice of words. Ugly is subjective. > > > > > > Bad typography and poor layout objectively hinders readers. It slows > > > reading speed and reduces comprehension -- not in some vague "well > yeah, > > > that's your word against mine" way, but in an objectively > scientifically > > > measurable way. > > > > > > What Wikipedia does is not really "adapting gracefully". It's adding a > > > padding of 1.5em to the left and right of a block of text that spans > the > > > entire width of any available window (minus the 11em of the left > panel). > > > > > > There's a limit to the amount of text you can put on a line before it > > > becomes hard to read. > > > > > > What you're calling a "cop-out" is not a cop-out at all. The ads, well, > > > they need to be there for The Atlantic to be able to pay the bills, but > > > increasing the number of characters per line in the text column would > > *not* > > > make the better. To the contrary: the amount of words per line is about > > > just right. Here, take the test yourself. > > > > > > This is the article in Wikipedia layout: http://imgur.com/xinFW > > > This is the article as seen on The Atlantic: http://imgur.com/WH1WT > > > And this is the article run through Evernote Clearly: > > > http://imgur.com/sH3HJ > > > > > > Anyone can see, I hope, that the Clearly (http://evernote.com/clearly/ > ) > > > version is by far the easiest and most comfortable to read. Bigger > font. > > * > > > Different* font. Contrast less harsh. Fewer characters per line. > Margins. > > > Leading. Kerning. > > > > > > It's almost funny there's no article about macrotypography on > Wikipedia. > > :) > > > > > > Michel > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list > > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l