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How can Wikipedia, one of the worlds most visited sites
appear if you create it especially for touch-devices?
What will happen if the userinterface become as invisible as possible?
What will happen if the essence of Wikipedia, the content, become more prominent?
What will happen if you hide links, hide references, clean up the images,
improve the typography and make the searchfield clearer?
This is some of the questions I have explored in my Master thesis
where I have designed an alernate version of Wikipedia for smartphones and tablets.
First, you have the smartphone. You have this,
in contrast to the computer and tablet with you at all times.
This is a device you use while you are on the go and need information.
You often have poorer reception, and speed is an important aspect.
For me as a designer it has been important to create
a solution which is fast, especially when there is a poor internet connection,
and which displays the information in a good way on this device.
For this reason no information is downloaded on start-up.
The first thing you’ll see is the keyboard, ready to type in your search query.
By focusing on the text, and that you have to click extra to see images
the articles are downloaded lightning fast.
The articles are easy read and comprehensible by having a good screen optimized font
and every distracting element as links and references are hidden.
All the headlines can be expanded to read more
this way you quickly can navigate to the content you are looking for.
The searchfield is placed in a rather unusual position
at the bottom of the screen.
This is because it this way naturally relate to the keyboard
when this is expanded on the different devices
It is also easier to reach, and creates a similarity across the devices
The tablet version also has the same placement of the search field
even though the tablet version has another focus
This is, unlike the smartphone, mostly used at home.
How often have you for example seen people walk on the street with a tablet?
This device has often a better internet connection
and the users expect more experiences and more depth of content.
It had been important for me as a designer that the content is focused and non-distracting
and at the same time that you are lead further into the content.
I have achieved this by focusing on the different modes you are in while consuming content.
When you read there is full focus on the text and nothing else.
When you look at the pictures they are displayed from their best side
and biggest possible, so that the images really shine.
When you are finished with an article, either in image- og text-mode
a list of recommended articles are displayed.
This way the user is led into a flow and to explore the content on Wikipedia.
To easily navigate the different articles
I’ve developed a solution called content-scroll.
This way you can visually scroll through the different headlines and quickly find the information you are looking for.
These are some of the choices I’ve made to create a similarity between the different devices
while each of the solutions are tailored to the different usage scenarios and devices.
visit www.mhauken.no/master/final-result for more about the project in English