Wikipedia this month turns 22 years old. The internet’s most widely used collaborative encyclopedia, or what they like to call themselves, the largest collection of open knowledge in history has grown tremendously in content and popularity over the years. It has 58 million articles written in more than 300 languages ​​by volunteers from all over the world who edit and manage this completely free website. A place visited by 16 billion users every month.

To mark the anniversary, Wikipedia has been renewed for the first time in over a decade. The Wikimedia Foundation has announced the release of an updated interface aimed at making the site more accessible and easy to use. While the changes are not very obvious, they actually managed to clear up some common annoyances that some users might not even have noticed.

Among them we have a new fixed header that provides quick access to the search and article sections, now a search that displays images and descriptions as you type. The table of contents has been improved and it is easier to switch languages.

The purpose of the update is basically to make Wikipedia a more modern platform and clean up some clutter On the other hand, ensuring that the web version matches the mobile version in terms of accessibility. As the organization says: “It was necessary to meet the needs of a new generation of Internet users, including those who have recently connected and are less familiar with the Internet.”

Next, we examine each of the applied changes:

• developed search box including pictures and descriptions in your suggestions Auto-completes that appear as a user is typing to help guide users quickly to the article they need.

• Another change is sticky Header, Name of the page with commonly used links such as “Search” and Sections they move with you as you doscroll down, staying steady at the top of the page. This means you no longer have to go back to the top to find what you are looking for.

• Although language switching tools were available before, now orhave a new and more prominent position top right allows readers and publishers to switch between more than 300 languages easily accepted.

• The table of contents has also undergone some changes. dir-dirwill be pinned to the left side of the articles and It allows you to navigate through the content even if the article is very long. that does easier to jump from one side to the other, switching between various sections of the article while further researching a topic.

• addedfolding side bar pFor a more distraction-free reading experience and also width increased line max. foundationice limiting the width of long-form text makes the experience more comfortable and increases the permanence of the content. However, if the monitor is 1600 pixels or larger, there is a switch for users to log in and out of each page, allowing users to increase the width of the page.

As we can see, none of these modifications will change the world. This is a very light update with no major changes. However, the portal tells them that these small changes best results in tests with international volunteer groups. Users searched 30% more and scrolled 15% less. Nothing is done in vain here.

Pictures and GIFs: Wikipedia