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Rumor: Wikipedia’s Redesign? I Sure Hope Not!
by Allen Stern on January 22nd, 2008
A friend showed me this really weird look-in on Wikipedia — could this be the new version of Wikipedia? It’s certainly not listed on the "Skin" page inside of the user preferences but it is live. I sure hope it’s not as it’s pretty ugly (not that the current site isn’t also ugly) and has lost all of the Wikipedia branding. Perhaps it’s a lighter mobile version? This is all I have for now – will continue to investigate. If you have any information, please leave it in the comments.
FYI – this is a REAL screenshot – I made it myself inside of Wikipedia.
Looks similar to the reuters home page.
I don’t believe…. it don’t have wiki search in it..
It is real… you can access the page by adding this to any Wikipedia URL:
?useskin=modern
I think that it’s terrible, though – it looks like a MySpace page or a Facebook page now.
i agree. time for a redesign.
Well it looks better than this site and doesn’t come with all the banners…
About time. It would be nice to change it up. The current design is blah. I wonder if they would offer this design upgrade to the open source media wiki project?
Yeah. That is Totally unreasonable. Why in the Heck Would they decide that they would need a remodel of their site. The chances of this being real is slim to none. Where did your friend find this page?
This looks better than the current wikipedia design.. The current one seriously needs to be changed!
It looks like Facebook…
That’s it, they’re going to make a Facebook-App!
You have 1 invitation to do blablalbla…
It looks like Facebook…
That’s it, they’re going to make a Facebook-App!
You have 1 invitation to do blablalbla…
Looks like… Jira?
No Web 2.0 no redesign. Probably next year.
Duran you are right, it is a skin.
i certainly hope not
that is boring & ugly
I like Wikipedia…
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2335105
he made the screenshot himself!
But then again, is Wiki doing a System Rewrite too, If so, then whats the point, and the rumor would be considered false. But that is NOT ugly. it looks really really good.
The current Wikipedia is ugly? I don’t know which is more odd — the idea that its clean simple presentation is actively “ugly”, or that we’re worried about the visual appearance of an encyclopedia at all.
I went to this URL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page?useskin=modern
and there it is.
it looks like Confluence. which is their biggest competitor in the commercial/corporate space.
That’s definitively not possible. It’s a fake.
the next version will have wikia search box built in ;)
wikipedia is going to get ripped a new one by google’s knol
If you think that the current version is ugly, and so is the new layout – why are you making a fuss about it?!
Hi, anyone can access the skin via the “useskin” parameter in the url, such as index.php?title=Bangalore&useskin=modern.
There are several other skins there. It is not a skin that is going to be default for all users in the near future.
Mathias
Armageddon must be near if Wikipedia is changing their design…
I always wondered who would change their design first though – Wikipedia or Craigslist? Both have been reluctant to redesign and incorporate a more modern look. Nonetheless, their “ugly designs” and simplicity seem to be key pieces to their successes.
Cheers,
Aidan
http://www.MappingTheWeb.com
Um, aside from that it’s been pointed out that this is a valid skin on Wikipedia (which doesn’t say much, there are plenty of skins to choose from), it’s not as though it isn’t relatively easy for someone to make their login look different with little effort. Wikipedia allows each registered user to write a page for themself that adds CSS code (and another for JavaScript) to each of their page views. With this power, it is easy for someone to create their own personal skin for Wikipedia. You can see some changes I’ve made, as an experienced Wikipedia editor, to my personal css page, even within the default “monobook” skin: [[User:Nihiltres/monobook.css]]. Just hearing that someone has found a skin doesn’t say much when it’s easy to customize one’s view of the site. If you don’t know how powerful CSS can be to change the appearance of a site, try checking out the CSS Zen Garden site sometime and scrolling through the skins for that page – the possibilities are endless.