14 DAY TRIAL // Wikipedia, like much of the rest of the web, has discovered that a lot more people are using the site on their phones or tablets, either on the go or in their beds. Wikimedia, the foundation behind the popular site, has been working on improving the mobile site and also creating mobile applications for the site.
It's now rolling out an updated beta design for the mobile Wikipedia website. The improvements, while not numerous, will be instantly noticeable to regular users. Most of the updates are visual, but the effect is a much smoother looking site.
One really cool feature that's also rather practical is the way footnotes work now. Clicking on a footnote link will not direct users to the bottom of the article, rather a popup overlay is displayed at the bottom of the visible portion of the page.
This means that you can view sources and external links and even visit them and then go back to reading from where you left off.
The full-screen search feature has been improved as well. Typing in the search box on the beta version of the mobile site brings up a full list of suggestions that covers the entire screen. In the latest update, full-screen search has gotten some polishing and visual improvements.
The mechanism for hiding and revealing sections of an article has also been revamped visually and looks significantly slicker now. By default, most of the article sections are not displayed and loaded on the mobile site, to save up on bandwidth and to speed up the site.
"We are keen to gather feedback to stabilise these additions and make these changes available by default to a much larger audience. In particular and as always, we are interested in any device-specific issues being brought to our attention as well as feedback on the new design. Let us know how you find the experience – good and bad and also the quirks that you discover," Wikipedia encourages users.