Originally announced back in March of this year, Wikipedia today announced plans to roll out a new theme and several new features to improve the usability of the site.
In brief, the main things that will be rolling out in the next couple of days include:
- Navigation: Tabs at the top of every page are now more clearly defined depending on whether the page is a discussion, reading, or editing page. Page design has been removed of extraneous clutter and will accommodate different resolutions, browsers, and window sizes.
- Editing toolbar: The editing toolbar has been redesigned for ease of use and accessibility. Editing pages should be much more intuitive with the change. Users should also see less wiki code and clutter for a better editing experience.
- Link wizard: A new tool to make it easier to add links to external sites and other wiki pages.
- Search: The search box has been moved to the top right and search suggestions have been improved for faster access to desired wiki pages. “Go” and “Search” buttons have been combined into a single search button.
- Other new features: A new table wizard for easier table creation and a find/replace function to help page editing.
Wikipedia has posted a FAQ with more information concerning the changes here. The rollout will first begin for English users and then trickle down to other languages and countries.
Users wanting to try the new beta can do so here. (requires log-in)
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