Topic on Project:Village Pump

Hi everyone! We are the Wikimedia Foundation Web team. We work on making it easier to read Wikimedia projects as part of the objective "Reading and media experience". To achieve this goal, we have introduced the "Accessibility for Reading" beta feature. It adds a menu which works on the Vector 2022 skin and allows logged-in users to choose different font sizes based on individual needs. This makes it easier to serve the accessibility needs for more people. For more information, check out our project page.

The menu introduces a new Standard font setting. It slightly increases the size and height of the font. It was selected by looking at the preferences of editors using the beta feature, general recommendations for accessibility (which font is quickest to read for the majority of people), as well as the suggestions and designs of more than 600 Wikimedians. You will find more information on this setting below. This menu has been available on Wikipedias since June 2024.

We are now ready to make the new Appearance menu available for logged-out and logged-in users on all wikis, including this one. At the same time, we will also make the Standard option the new default for logged-out users only. If no breaking technical issues are found, we plan on making this change in the week of September 9.

About the menu

The new menu will allow logged-in and logged-out users to set preferences for: Text size and line height (available now as the beta feature): Users will be able to choose between the Small (current default), Standard (recommended for better accessibility), and Large options. Selecting an option will change both the font size and line height of the text. Content width (previously available as a toggle button): We have moved the content width toggle from an icon at the bottom of the page to a labeled radio button in the new menu. It will work exactly the same as the toggle. The previous toggle button will no longer be available. Dark mode (coming soon!): Users will be able to choose to see the site in night mode on a permanent basis, or select an “automatic” setting which will set day or night mode based on the device or browser preferences. Dark mode is already available in the menu as a beta feature - check it out by opting into the “Accessibility fo Reading” This menu has been tested as a beta feature by logged-in users across wikis as well as in user testing with readers. The menu has also been the default on all Wikipedias since June 2024. Based on the findings of these tests, we changed the menu to improve the user experience, menu discoverability and ease of use, and to accommodate gadget compatibility across wikis. The menu will appear to the right of the page, immediately under the Tools menu. Similar to the Tools menu, the menu will appear as open by default, but can be pinned. Once pinned, the menu collapses under an icon at the top of the page.

About the new Standard font setting

The "Small" option is the current default. We will be changing this default to "Standard" for logged-out users, while keeping "Small" as the default for logged-in users. The "Standard" and "Large" options were built and tested based on the following: Academic studies and recommendations for the best average font size for the majority of readers. These recommendations stated that our current size is too small for the majority of people to read comfortably. This means that on average, people read more slowly, strain their eyes while reading, or have difficulty clearly seeing the text. Increasing the font size by default improves these issues for all users, including users who might not have sufficient time to spend adjusting a setting via the appearance menu or browser. We also highlighted that information density is important to the Wikipedia experience, making the goal of the typography changes to increase font size without sacrificing information density. This was done by altering not only font size, but also line height and paragraph spacing. Designs submitted by more than 630 Wikimedians from across 13 wikis of different languages, scripts, and sizes. The majority (~450) of test users opted for a font size that was larger than the default, with the most popular cluster being 15-20 pixels. "Standard" represents the average of the most popular cluster of community responses (15-20) pixels. "Large"represents the need for an even larger option, as represented by the cluster of sizes between 21-26 pixels. You can read more on how we included volunteers in the process and landed on these options. Beta feature usage showed that the majority of users who interact with the feature at least once opt for a font size that is larger than the current default.

Our works so far and next steps

Logged-in users will remain with the “small” setting for the time being as their default, but can change to any other setting at any time. In a few months, we will study how many logged-in users switch to standard and start a conversation on whether it makes sense for logged-in users to make the switch as well. From the early data from the beta feature, 55% of sessions who interacted with the feature chose to use a setting that was standard or larger.

If you'd like to help, we have a few simple requests for you:

1. Please, turn on the beta feature ("Accessibility for Reading (Vector 2022)")
2. Try out the new menu. Is anything confusing? Do you understand all the labels and how the menu works?
3. Try out the small, standard, and large sizes. Reach out to us if you notice any bugs, or have questions or concerns.
4. Try out the width toggle. Reach out to us if you notice any bugs, or have questions or concerns.

If you'd like to learn more about the project, see our FAQ. Comments and questions are most welcome. Thank you!

Is it somehow possible to disable this annoying feature? It is unproductive to offer users on each visit a selection of appearance preferences, forcefully narrowing visitors screen with this aggressive setting list. I can't believe that anyone ever asked this feature! Please, disable this menu for logged out users and unregistered users!

You can always hide the menu (convert the sidebar section to a button at the top of the page) using the hide button, and this hiding is sticky (as far as I remember, also for unregistered/logged-out users), i.e. once you’ve hidden it, future page loads will initially hide it (but, of course, you can also stickily unhide it, should you change your mind). Actually, the above screenshot shows it in the “hidden” state: in the state in which it’s a button at the top of the page, and it’s only temporarily open without being unhidden.

The Hide button hides the menu for that visit only. Next time the menu is back again.

Not for me. I hid the menu on English Wikipedia in a browser I’m not logged in, restarted the browser, and the menu was still hidden. Maybe you regularly delete cookies? The software can’t do anything if you destroy your preferences.

I never delete all cookies, only for particular sites, when there is an issue with the site. I did not delete Wikipedia cookies.

I experience the return of the menu when returning to the site after my computer has been switched off or hibernated. My computer assigns automatically different IP6 address from time to time, this may be somehow related.

The issue is also there if you often visit Wikipedia different language versions.

Almost every different language version brings up this menu again.