Reading/Web/Accessibility for reading/Updates/2023-10
Dark mode and a prototype for readability improvements
Read this in your language • Please help translate to your language • Please tell other users about these changes
Introduction to a new project
As the Wikimedia Foundation Web team, we are beginning a project called Accessibility for reading. The goal is to make the wikis more accessible and comfortable for reading. We are starting with the font size and typography for articles. In the next phase, we will focus on color palette customizations, such as dark mode. All these will be available for both logged-in and logged-out users as settings, on both desktop and mobile web.
This project is a consequence of the many requests from volunteers. We would like to thank everyone who has asked about this. On the technical side, dark mode is easier than the font size, but it will need more involvement from the communities. This is why we are asking you to follow our project. Watch the project page and subscribe to our newsletter.
Test out our prototype
Now, we would like to make articles easier to read and scan for casual readers. We aim for:
- Making the default font size bigger (but not too big) to improve readability
- Increasing the information density to improve scanning
- Increasing the space between paragraphs and sections to improve scanning
- Allowing readers (including logged-out users!) to customize the density of text
This will apply to articles in the reading mode and in VisualEditor, but not in the wikitext editor. We are planning these changes to apply across all the wikis. The default may vary based on the language or script of the project.
We have prepared a prototype that allows for various changes in the font size and spacing. To use the prototype, force a banner to appear and click on it. Next, try out different combinations and share what works for you. This prototype is not a reflection of the final design. Instead, we would like to learn what font sizes Wikimedians want to see across languages. We will use this data to determine the proposed default and options. Read more about the test.