Saturday, July 14, 2012

Can everybody read #Wikipedia?

A lot of effort goes into making "Wikipedia the encyclopaedia everybody can edit". The result is wonderful; there are Wikipedias in over 280 languages, a big effort is under way to make editing even easier and as so many people do edit, it became a rich almost authoritative resource. When Wikipedia goes off-line, students despair.

People do read Wikipedia, it is very popular but the notion that Wikipedia is hard to read is not really considered. Take for instance today's featured article.There are too many words on a line. For many people this makes it hard to read, some give up on an article or on Wikipedia.

Yes, you can change the way content is displayed on a computer screen. The problem is that people who have problems read websites in the default format.


The Wikimedia Foundation does have the expertise to consider these issues. The people who do have already too much on their plate to support the current software development. However, the proof of the pudding that is Wikipedia is in people READING its content and that makes this a key concern.
Thanks,
       GerardM

1 comment:

Custom technology news said...

Very nice post! Thanks a lot!