Talk:Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements

Limit the screen width
I think the worst one can do is limit the screen width... I's far less relaxed for reading and a waste of screen space. Switched back to the previous version. 213.219.163.24 23:41, 21 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Hello! I'd like to invite you to read this page: Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Features/Limiting content width. There we've documented our arguments for this change. If you prefer the full width, you may use the button in the bottom right corner of the screen, too. I hope this solves the issue! SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 17:57, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * I have a somewhat related question. I see that there is a toggle on the MediWiki site in the bottom right corner to adjust width, which is great... but I don't see it on my own install using Vector 2022 (MediaWiki version 1.39.3). Is there something I'm missing in order to make that visible? I don't have the "Enable limited width mode" option in user preferences either. Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer. Adoxtater (talk) 02:29, 27 April 2023 (UTC)
 * My install of MediaWiki also does not have the full width toggle button. Fanra (talk) 10:39, 25 May 2023 (UTC)
 * If you're not seeing the limited-width toggle, it might be because the browser window is too small. Currently, per T326887 the limited width toggle is only available when the browser window is bigger than 1400px wide. JDrewniak (WMF) (talk) 17:57, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I have dual monitor and stretched the window to run the full width of both and still no toggle button. However, on the mediawiki site it does show up even on a single monitor. Unless, of course, they're running some other code that makes it happen I guess. Adoxtater (talk) 22:21, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I have designed an alternative toggle button that I feel better represents the functionality... and emailed it to answers@wikimedia.org. Is there a better way to share it?? 68.83.135.144 18:24, 25 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I have designed an alternative toggle button that I feel better represents the functionality... and emailed it to answers@wikimedia.org. Is there a better way to share it??
 * Disallowing me to upload... AlanGochin (talk) 18:31, 25 May 2023 (UTC)

Some opposes and supports with same argument

 * Moved at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Rollback_of_Vector_2022#Some_opposes_and_supports_with_same_argument

Interwiki links dependancy from ULS extension.
Hi! I am quite disappointed that interwiki links has dependancy from ULS extension from MW 1.39. ULS extension works not so properly at my wiki farm, that's why I never used it, and basically I don't need it. And it is quite strange that only Vector-2022 skin has this dependancy as other skins displays interwiki language links. Can you explain why developers has done that? Fokebox (talk) 08:21, 18 April 2023 (UTC)


 * Hey @Fokebox. You'll find information about that on the page about the feature. Is this helpful? I understand that there may be some difference between the Wikimedia wikis and third-party wikis. SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 13:46, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Well, let me explain what issues I experience. I begin from the first one:
 * I have different localisations of my wiki farm that has common shared database and common files of mediawiki. All localisations made just like in wikipedia: ru.mywikifarm.org - Russian, en.mywikifarm.org - English, es.mywikifarm.org - Spanish etc. The $wgLanguageCode is determined for every localisation, i.e for English it is $wgLanguageCode = "en";, for $wgLanguageCode = "ru"; is for Russian etc. The issue is that the language of all website is correct for logged in user, but when it is a guest (non logged-in user) all localisations are in Russian, i.e. en.mywikifarm.org - is in Russian, es.mywikifarm.org - is in Russian etc. When I switch off ULS extension then all works fine for logged in user and for guests (non logged-in users). And I don't know how to solve this issue.
 * Fokebox (talk) 19:25, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I use MW 1.39.3 at my wiki family. I have interwiki links and don't need ULS so far. But interwiki links do not work without the extension at Vector-2022. How can I disable ULS but have my interwiki links? Fokebox (talk) 13:39, 17 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I am writing this message to remove dependancy of ULS with Interwiki links. All other skins do not have it. I don't need ULS at my website as it works not properly at my wiki farm. Fokebox (talk) 14:50, 29 May 2023 (UTC)
 * The issue is resolved with MW 1.40.0. Fokebox (talk) 08:47, 4 July 2023 (UTC)


 * The second issue is following: When ULS extension is on! I do see the interwiki box showing the number of languages at my Vector-2022 skin, but when I click the box - sometimes the links are shown, and sometimes the box is empty, in spite of that HTML code is fine - I see at HTML this links and text. But it works all strange, sometimes there are links and sometimes there aren't any. And it is difficult to say why it happening and how to debug this.
 * My wiki farm website:
 * MediaWiki 1.39.3
 * PHP 8.0.28 (cgi-fcgi)
 * MySQL 5.7.34
 * Fokebox (talk) 19:45, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Is there some A/B testing going on?
I'm used to the contents, when hidden from the sidebar, in en-wiki, would be being located behind the in the sticky header, which is great. I recently discovered that it seems that in namespaces like  it's now a free-floating icon in the top-left corner (e.g., en:Draft:Smart Communications (software company)). Is this intentional? Tenryuu (talk) 22:16, 25 May 2023 (UTC)


 * Hello @Tenryuu. No, we aren't running A/B tests now. I think this isn't the expected behavior... I'll file a ticket on Phabricator. Thanks for noticing this and informing us! SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 13:00, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Second thoughts, this appears to be due to the lack of the sticky header in this namespace. Otherwise, the icon would be part of it. I think we (the enwiki community and our team) could discuss and make a collaborative decision which namespaces with the sticky header currently disabled should get the sticky header. SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 13:07, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * @SGrabarczuk: Thanks for the explanation. If a discussion should occur, please let me know. Tenryuu (talk) 13:09, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

When will vector-2022 be the default for the German Wikipedia
Contrary to a lot of comments here I can't wait to finally get vector-2022 as a default for Wikipedia. I am mostly working with ultra wide screens and even when only using the center portion for my browser window, I much prefer the narrow text layout.

I think it's well documented that smart usage of white space and smaller column widths make text easier to read, and I am looking forward to not having to add '?useskin=vector-2022' to German Wikipedia URLs any more.

Where does the discussion on when / if to roll this out for German Wikipedia take place? Is there any public information on this issue available? 62.218.63.247 13:14, 26 May 2023 (UTC)


 * They are mainly vocal opinions from old-school Wikimedians. The major users wouldn't feel that the old version was better. 🐱💬 03:35, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I totally understand the frustration of what seems to be a huge part of corporate websites these days, that use huge fonts and narrow paragraphs that make it really difficult to quickly absorb larger amounts of information. I too am furious when I have to endlessly scroll down to see information that would have easily fit on a single page.
 * With text based content however, I feel it's clear that narrow columns and good use of space between is what you should go with as a designer. 62.218.63.254 15:03, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
 * There is now a vote and discussion at Vector 2022 als Standardskin. Discostu (talk) 13:42, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

Page zone separation trial (Zebra9)
Are comments about the ongoing trial being collated anywhere? Personally I am finding the grey background separation between zones to be a backward step from the "cleanliness" of V22. AllyD (talk) 19:38, 2 June 2023 (UTC)


 * Same for me. MikeMatyMatta (talk) 11:43, 6 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Hello @AllyD and @MikeMatyMatta. Thanks for being interested in the A/B test.
 * As we announced before the launch of the A/B test, the goal for this is to measure the following: pageviews, opt-out rates, edit rate, Table of Contents usage, scrolling, and page tools usage. After the test, we'll analyze the data and decide if Zebra #9 would become the default look.
 * That being said, if you have feedback, we'll be happy to read it! SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 13:10, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Notifications missing from sticky nav
The sticky navigation has all the important links available except one: notifications. This means that when I am working through my notifications, I always have to scroll back to the top to go to the next one. This should be changed. Discostu (talk) 13:45, 8 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The Vector 2022 bug fixing that was happening at a pretty quick rate for a few weeks after the initial deployment has slowed to a crawl, as often happens with shiny new beta deployments (see also the Visual Editor, still in beta after many years). See for an example of a request related to the sticky header. To fix it for yourself, if you are willing to modify your CSS files, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Quiddity/Vector-2022-condensed.css for code that can make the default page header sticky so that you do not have to deal with the inexplicable differences between the top-of-page header and the sticky header. Jonesey95 (talk) 00:38, 9 June 2023 (UTC)
 * @Jonesey95, you've been watching the development of the project for a long time. You may remember that the initial deployment took place in 2020 and it happened on several wikis, like French or Hebrew Wikipedia. When we deployed on English Wikipedia earlier this year, we were close to the end of the project.
 * @Discostu, thanks for raising this issue. I admit, I'd prefer the sticky header with the notifications, too. However, according to our engineers, this is a difficult task, and that's why we haven't done it yet. I also recommend taking a look at the discussion in the relevant Phabricator task where you'll find detailed arguments against it. SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 23:08, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * With all respect, it was not that difficult for me to get it working for my account. I have it displaying on every page, in every namespace, right now on en.WP. It works great. The necessary CSS is linked above. The fundamental problem is that the top-of-page header is different from the sticky header, which is very confusing from a UX perspective. Making the sticky header the only header fixes that UX design problem. Jonesey95 (talk) 01:47, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

On Main Page, the interwiki links are... at the bottom?!? Why?
One of the most disruptive changes in the new interface, is that the interwiki links were moved, from the lower left menu, to the top-right corner of the page. So disruptive that it was necessary to put a warning message in the old place, telling people were to find them. This is already a bad design, and frustrating enough (a good UI shouldn't need to tell people where to look). But today I found out that these new design is not even consistent in the different pages. When moving through different projects and comparing their respective main pages, I stumbled on some projects that use the new interface, and to my surprise I couldn't find the interwiki links in neither the old place nor the new! And after much frustration, eventually I found them... at the bottom of the main page. Why this choice? It was already a bad decision to move them, but at the very least they should always be in one place, so people always know where to find them and don't have to search for them every time. Candalua (talk) 12:55, 3 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Ciao @Candalua! Grazie per il commento, mi permetto di risponderti in italiano. Trovi il motivo per cui il pulsante delle lingue è stato spostato in questa sezione delle FAQ, ti farà piacere sapere che si puo' facimente mettere in cima alla Pagina principale con il consenso della comunità, con o senza un messaggio di benvenuto. :) Resto a disposizione, Patafisik (WMF) (talk) 11:28, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

Poor mobile support under 500px (MW1.39)
The new vector layout has no user-tools menu (eg login), no notification alerts (and an overly wide search toggle) in the header - unless you know to scroll off the right to find them. This is not exactly the mobile improvement expected, and possibly going to discourage signup from Anons. This happens only when responsive is on in user preferences (which if off affects other skins too).

The issue seems to not be on en WP or mediawiki (which are 1.41) - whats's the fix for this?

Alternatively is there CSS to shuffle them left? (I don't see any in use in MW or WP). I didnt see anything on phabricator.

Issue appears to be related to  in Vector skin in core |resources/common/variables.less

Defines the minimum viewport width, at which point the layout will not get any smaller and will start horizontal scrolling instead.

@min-width-supported: unit( 500px Amousey (talk) 01:42, 4 July 2023 (UTC)