Wikimedia gets ready for some big changes
In April, the Wikimedia Foundation is rolling out the first of several significant changes to the user experience of Wikipedia as part of our usability and user experience program. — We are changing our default look to a new theme we call …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Wikimedia Foundation’s usability programme arrives after a 2008 debate over Wikipedia’s editing interface, while 2009 brought separate efforts to manage contributor trust and editing of biographies. The common issue is participation: the site is adjusting both the experience of using it and the rules around contributing to it.
The April rollout makes interface design a visible part of Wikipedia’s operating agenda, rather than leaving usability concerns confined to the editing workflow.
First-order effects
- Wikipedia readers and contributors will encounter a new default visual baseline, requiring the Wikimedia Foundation to support the transition across its user base.
- The Foundation gains a user-experience mechanism distinct from its trust and editing-policy measures, including the planned WikiTrust option and limits on edits to articles about people.
Second-order effects
- The redesign puts the usability of Wikipedia’s contribution experience more directly alongside the earlier WYSIWYG editing dilemma, making interface friction a product concern rather than only a community-governance concern.
Third-order effects
- If interface changes and contributor controls continue to be developed in parallel, Wikipedia’s participation model will increasingly be shaped by product design as well as editorial policy.
The trend: Wikipedia is treating usability, contributor trust, and editorial control as connected levers for sustaining open participation.