How did Wikipedia layout become so bloated?

9 pointsby countWSS2 hours ago9 comments

davisr7 minutes ago

I use Redirector in Firefox to rewrite URLs to the old Wikipedia:

  {
      "description": "Old Wikipedia",
      "exampleUrl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page",
      "exampleResult": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page?useskin=vector",
      "error": null,
      "includePattern": "^(https?://)([a-z0-9-]*\\.)wikipedia\\.org\\/wiki\\/([^?]+)(?!=\\?useskin=vector)",
      "excludePattern": "",
      "patternDesc": "Adds ?useskin=vector to any Wikipedia page",
      "redirectUrl": "https://$2wikipedia.org/wiki/$3?useskin=vector",
      "patternType": "R",
      "processMatches": "noProcessing",
      "disabled": false,
      "grouped": false,
      "appliesTo": [
          "main_frame"
      ]
  }

Olreich2 hours ago
Did you disable cookies or something? Table of Contents sidebar hides and stays hidden across page loads, browser restarts, etc. Appearance sidebar is the same. Appearance sidebar lets you set the article width as well, with the default being slightly slim, but the wide option being the full browser width.
The only way I can get it to reset is to clear my cookies, so its likely that.
atelesan hour ago
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/legacy-wikipe...
josephcsible2 hours ago
It's especially annoying on pages that have big tables, where all the wasted space makes it need to horizontally scroll. Sometimes I wish that once a horizontal scrollbar appears, browsers would ignore max-width on that page from then on.
bananaflagan hour ago
I have been using MonoBook for years (early 2023 I think), I see nothing like that.
inigyou2 hours ago
It might have something to do with Wikimedia Foundation and WP:CANCER.
- josefritzisherean hour ago
  reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Guy_Macon/Wikipedia_has_C...
  - squigz28 minutes ago
    It seems a bit silly to base this entire analysis on Wikipedia page views without exploring what else the WMF does.
    And in any event, I have a really hard time getting worked up about the relatively small amount of money they deal with - and use to do a lot of good for the world - while corruption and greedy corporations are as rampant and filthy rich as they are.
    tdeck4 minutes ago
    Personally I'm not worked up over it either, but I find the argument that this puts Wikipedia at risk persuasive. If it some point WMF racks up debts they can't pay and puts itself up for sale, these days probably Elon Musk or Larry Ellison would buy it.
    tosti22 minutes ago
    Two wrongs don't make a right.
    Corruption is fought best by not allowing it anywhere at all.
    squigz5 minutes ago
    Putting aside that I don't believe WMF is 'wrong' here at all, it's simply not reasonable or healthy to get upset about every wrong thing. One needs to pick their battles.
chuckadams37 minutes ago
A quick reminder that reader mode works great with almost every WP article.
g8ozan hour ago
Is there some kind of extension to block their begging for donations banner?
aristofunan hour ago
I’ll answer deeper question “why” if you don’t mind.
Wikipedia itself has become corrupted and politically and ideologically biased in past years. It has been shown multiple times.
When you stop pursuing the truth and start pursuing an agenda - things get ugly over time. It’s a general pattern.
- jan_pajean hour ago
  I've not experienced this, can you provide some examples?
- gnoll_of_gozag27 minutes ago
  this post is about layouts
- squigzan hour ago
  > It has been shown multiple times.
  Feel free to share.