
Ask HN: Why are wiki's UIs not evolving? - throwaway13000
I am trying to build a wiki based site and I see that most of the UIs are not keeping up with the times? Is it inherent to nature of wikis or is it just a coincidence? 
Eg: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wikitravel.org&#x2F;en&#x2F;Altai_Tavan_Bogd_National_Park<p>Are there any good skins&#x2F;theme for these (or any other) wiki&#x27;s.
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Sendotsh
If it ain’t broke...

I don’t really see how wikis could be improved by any modern design trends.
They function well and are designed to be accessible by everyone on as many
platforms and devices as possible.

~~~
dstroot
> If it ain’t broke...

Many of the comments below agree with this point. However I think the OP’s
question is worth exploring. Good design that leverages fonts, colors,
spacing, layout, etc. is supposed to make sites more usable and enjoyable. Why
can’t we have a wiki that is easy to use/edit _and_ looks nice _and_ is
accessible? These are not mutually exclusive are they? That being said, my
recent wiki experience has all been using GitHub.

~~~
brianush1
To be fair, Wikipedia has some themes that look very nice and modern, it's
still accessible, and the visual editor makes it easy to edit as well.

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PaulHoule
I guess my question is: what is wrong with that interface?

Is it missing a popup asking if you accept the cookie? If you accept the
privacy policy? That the EU passed a law? That they want you to subscribe?
That they can't send you spam unless you give them your email address?

If medium looked like that site, I wouldn't have medium blocked in my
/etc/hosts file.

One trouble with Wikis is that the control of the content is not very tight,
so if you want to make a layout which expects images and texts to line up in
some complex way you are using the wrong tool.

~~~
throwaway13000
My point is that mediawiki based sites look like web1.0
([https://blog.hallowelt.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/07/Metrol...](https://blog.hallowelt.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/07/Metrolook-Skin.png)) vs lets say, confluence
pages([https://marketplace-
cdn.atlassian.com/files/images/0e313fe9-...](https://marketplace-
cdn.atlassian.com/files/images/0e313fe9-985d-476c-ac41-bd3f3992ef08.png)) or
([http://www.play-sql.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/09/Specifica...](http://www.play-sql.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/09/Specification-Detail-2.png))

Confluence for example looks like it is a web2.0 software(more space, better
fonts, markdown support etc)

~~~
wolco
More space = wasted spaced. Better fonts = bigger fonts wasted space, markdown
support = no one asked for it

In web 2.0 or 3.5.. We hide information from the user and fill up the page
with space for full screens while designing for mobile. Wikis want to expose
information / link ideas.. encourage browsing pages. Most sites want you to
scroll down aimlessly.

------
alg0rith
Because they are perfect just the way they are

[https://wiki2.org](https://wiki2.org) exists too tho

~~~
ffwacom
Thanks, I hate it. It even has a popup after a while
[https://imgur.com/a/8Qsg8O2](https://imgur.com/a/8Qsg8O2)

Here is your reason OP.

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h0p3
Tiddlywiki is very hackable. You can make it look however you want. Lots of
different interfaces can be built in it.

~~~
eb0la
I remember having one Tiddlywiki on a pendrive... a long time ago :-)

I believe wikis should evolve to more advanced document types like
"calendars", "tables", "databases" (like Filemaker), etc...

And you should be able to interface with that "semi" structured data somehow.

Just the mad idea of the day (tm).

~~~
h0p3
I ain't an expert with the tool, but I use it a lot. There are plugins for
those advanced document types for TW, but they aren't stellar unless you know
exactly what you want. The nodejs option (especially TW5-Bob), however, seem
very well-suited to quickly hacking together interfaces to your underlying OS
and whatever can be accomplished on the CLI. It might do more now than it did
for you a long time ago.

I think wikis are hypertext bombs, and TW a rapid prototyping tool. That's how
I try to use my silly wiki
([https://philosopher.life/](https://philosopher.life/)).

------
gjvnq
I did make a few CSS changes to my Wikipedia account. The mains thing I did
were:

    
    
      * Serif font (Libre Baskerville).
      * Larger font size.
      * Fewer characters by line.
      * Hyphenation with left align.
    

Basically I tried to improve readability for me.

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narshaven
Why change it when it ain't broke. See the aim of Wikipedia is to provide
information in easiest possible way and I don't see a point of adding better
UI smooth scroll, gradient nav bars, responsiveness. How it is present now is
probably the MOST easiest for a user to understand.

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bctnry
Probably not relevant, we have wikiwand.com, so the UI somehow _does_ evolve
after all.

~~~
throwaway13000
Interestingly, wikiwand is exactly what was looking for. Thanks!
Unfortunately, it is not open source.

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dredmorbius
What specific changes would you care to see?

I've made some modest styling changes (via Stylus) to Mediawiki: mostly a max-
width main body constraint.

