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 A non-profit membership organisation Discord <https://discord.gg/HwBwHWWurr> | Zulip <https://wikimediaza.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/147876-Main-Chat> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/WikimediaZA> | Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/wikimedia_za/> ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Szymon Grabarczuk <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2023 at 22:49 Subject: Change of the default interface for desktop on English Wikipedia To: Cc: Vidhu Goyal <[email protected]>, Barbara Kandek < [email protected]>, Lauren Dickinson <[email protected]>, Olga Vasileva <[email protected]> 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/> _______________________________________________ WikimediaZA mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to %(real_name)s-unsubscribe@%(host_name)s
