Wikipedia Preview/faq

Wikipedia Preview

Wikipedia Preview is a free plugin for your site that keeps your readers engaged with your content.

Is Wikipedia Preview free?

Yes, Wikipedia Preview is free. It has been made available to you by Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that powers Wikipedia with a mission of free knowledge equity.

Does Wikipedia Preview work on any word?

The Wikipedia Preview works with any word or phrase that has an article on Wikipedia, in any of the available languages.

What is the flow for implementing the Wikipedia Preview links in each article?

When writing articles, your content creators or editors decide which words show a Wikipedia popup on a particular article. The process of enabling the Wikipedia popup on a specific word can be identical to adding a hyperlink or it can be slightly different. The ease of this process is dependent on your content management system.

What does the integration process look like?

On every page where it should be enabled, or in the main layout or template page of your CMS:

Load wikipediaPreview.js
Call wikipediaPreview.init(<options>)

Inside the content of articles:

Annotate some words with the data-wikipedia-preview attribute or add hyperlinks to Wikipedia

Post-implementation of Wikipedia Preview will there be any impact on the size of the page? Will it get laggy?

The words that will have a Wikipedia Preview popup on your site need to be annotated. Those annotations add to the page size but not more than the regular hyperlinks you already use. An additional script (wikipediaPreview.js) needs to be loaded. We recommend adding it at the bottom of the page - it will not slow down rendering of the page.

Is there any technical intervention required day to day?

Technical integration is done once and for all. The only exception is that of upgrading to a newer Wikipedia Preview version, which can happen on a regular basis (monthly) or as needed based on new release announcements.

Is it compatible with all browsers?

The Wikipedia Preview is compatible with Browsers Versions Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge (Current and previous version), Safari 5.1+, iOS 6.1+ and Android 4.1+

Our native app has the ability to invoke web views. Will Wikipedia Preview work in our app?

Wikipedia Preview can work seamlessly inside of a Web View. Please test in your specific application.

Does the Foundation have any plan to build Wikipedia Preview for native apps?

Not at the moment. However, if your app supports Web View (users can interact with a browser within your app), then Wikipedia Preview will work.

Is the process automated? Do I have to decide which content Wikipedia Preview links to on each article?

Think of it as similar to how editors select what to hyperlink in your current process. However, the technical integration is done only once. Annotating words inside articles to have the Wikipedia Preview popup is a manual and editorial process.

What frameworks does Wikipedia Preview support?

Wikipedia Preview is built using simple JavaScript. It can be integrated with websites built using any framework (vue.js, react, angular, etc). However, specific integration steps could be slightly different since the Wikipedia Preview init function would have to be called every time new content is shown in the web application.

Can you share tracking information after implementation?

You can build your own tracking by using the Wikipedia Preview events hooks. You can configure custom functions to be called when a preview is shown or a user navigates to the article on wiki and call your analytics service from there.

How can we share our experience with Wikipedia Preview with you?

We would like to learn more about how this tool is being used. Please share your feedback with us on the discussion page. We can also discuss shared models of data/metrics sharing if interested in going beyond a simple use. Reach out to partnerships@wikipedia.org

My website uses WordPress. Is there a Wikipedia Preview plugin available?

Yes, Wikipedia Preview is available as a WordPress plugin. You can install it here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wikipedia-preview/

Can I choose the color scheme and customize the colors to fit our style when readers hover over a term?

Not at the moment.

How can we share feedback?

We would appreciate feedback - compliments, suggestions for improvement, or unresolved questions that come up. Please talk to us here or reach out to partnerships@wikimedia.org

How else can I work with the Wikimedia Foundation?

If you would like to explore a collaboration opportunity beyond Wikipedia Preview, please contact partnerships@wikimedia.org