Wikipedia is a reference in terms of sharing knowledge on the Internet. With more than 2.4 million articles on the French version of the free encyclopedia, it is an essential resource.
But its interface, which has barely changed since its creation in January 2001, is not necessarily to everyone's taste. A little dated, a little cluttered, it is part of the site's identity, which makes it identifiable at first glance.
That said, if you're tired of this interface, there is a solution to access Wikipedia in a new setting. This solution is called Wikifox.
Wikifox, a minimalist interface for Wikipedia
Wikifox is a free website that will allow you to consult all the Wikipedia articles with an interface simple and clean. On the other hand, the information presented is exactly the same as on Wikipedia (the site uses the official API).
When you arrive at the site, the main page only displays a search articles. From the start, Wikifox focuses on minimalism. When you enter your search in the dedicated field, the site will gradually offer you results corresponding to the name of the page and the first lines of the article.
Once you get to an article, you will really be able to appreciate the huge amount of work that has been done by Wikifox developers on layout and interfacing.
Indeed, the article page has been completely redesigned to promote pleasant reading. Visual artifacts that could be a source of distraction have been reduced to a minimum and the reading space is optimized. The main column of the article has been widened and the character police has been modified to (significantly) increase reading comfort.
For example, here is Steve Jobs' page on Wikifox and Wikipedia. Which one do you prefer?
For long articles with many subsections, the tool offers a table of contents on a floating window (called Quick Jump) which allows you to navigate very easily through the article.
Finally, Wikifox has a light theme and a dark theme that you can select via the site options menu visible on the home page. And for CSS pros, it is even possible to load your own 100% custom theme.
And more features than Wikipedia
And that's not all. Because in addition to offering a pleasant and minimalist interface, Wikifox offers additional features.
In fact, in addition to having a search Integrated, the tool allows you to save your favorite articles as bookmarks and offers the possibility of sharing excerpts from the articles.
But above all, the coolest feature is that it allows you to download any article in PDF format. And as its minimalist interface is well designed, the PDF rendering is really successful and very readable!
In short, the Wikifox interface is only available in English, but this should not be a problem even if you do not master this language. Indeed, it is possible to choose the version (language) of Wikipedia in the site options and that is the most important thing in the end!
Article updated on January 7, 2025 by Byothe
