Reading/Web/Accessibility for reading/Frequently asked questions

Overview

Repository

FAQ

All Accessibility for Reading features

How do I change the font size or enable dark mode?

• On the mobile website (e.g. nl.m.wikipedia.org), visit the settings page. Our new settings are available there.
• On the desktop website, use the radio button in the "Appearance" sidebar (which is also hidden under the glasses icon when collapsed).
• You can force the dark mode feature on a certain page. Add ?vectornightmode=1 (for Vector 2022, the desktop skin) or ?minervanightmode=1 (for Minerva, the mobile skin) to the URL.

Is it possible to choose the settings globally across all wikis?

Yes!

To select global preferences for the Appearance menu, go to your global preferences, the Appearance tab.

Will you work with any communities as pilot wikis?

Yes.

We intend to initially pilot the dark mode. Currently, this feature is available on a few wikis. We want to make sure we have uncovered any hidden challenges that we may not have been initially aware of. In the second wave of the pilot wikis, we will work with more communities including English Wikipedians.

For more details, see the table below.

Will the new features be available on mobile or desktop?

The features will be available for both mobile and desktop.

For more details, see the table below.

What skins will the new features available on?

Both typography improvements (font size options) and dark mode will be available on Vector 2022 and Minerva skins.

We aren't planning on making them available on Vector legacy or Monobook. It would be significant work, and it wouldn't have impact on the main audience we're building for – the readers.

What is the timeline of this project?

We don't have strict dates in mind. Instead, we'd like to go in phases listed in the table. Some of them may be changed:

		Deployment	User type	Wikis	Type
1	Done	Typography improvements for Minerva (mobile)	Logged-out and logged-in	All wikis	Default
2	Done	Dark mode for Minerva part 1	Logged-in	Pilot wikis group 1 (approx. 5)	Opt-in feature, default to day mode
3	Done	Typography improvements for Vector 2022 (desktop)	Logged-out	All wikis	Default
	Done		Logged-in	All wikis	Opt-in feature
5	Done	Dark mode for Vector 2022	Logged-in	All wikis	Beta feature
6		Dark mode for Minerva	Logged-in	All wikis	Light as default
7			Logged-out	All wikis	Light as default
8		Dark mode for Vector 2022	Logged-out and logged-in	All wikis	Automatic
9		Typography improvements for Vector 2022	Logged-in	All wikis	Default

Typography improvements

How did you choose these three options?

• Small – this is the default font size before our changes. We keep it available for both logged-in and logged-out users who would like to avoid seeing any changes.
• Standard –
• Large –

Why only three options?

The more customization options are available, the more work there is:

• For editors, it's more difficult to make and keep content formatted well.
• For engineers, it's more difficult to test new software, find and fix bugs, etc.

See also:

• Why don't you provide preferences to choose between different versions of the features? – our answer to the same question about the Vector 2022 skin

Why aren't these options available in some namespaces like Special?

For pages that don't generally include long-from text, we wanted to prioritize scannability and information density. These namespaces include special pages, categories, templates, modules, and more. We decided to display these pages in the "small" version.

However, we are open to discuss this with community members and perhaps change this setting.

Will the font size options be customizable on a per-wiki basis?

Short term: no. We have made sure that we will not be decreasing the font size across any current wikis. Wikis which had a larger than default font size of 15 pixels will be given the new standard font size of 16 pixels.

Long-term: communities will be able to customize on a per-wiki basis using the Community Configuration tool.

Will this affect the design of articles?

Some article layouts might be affected by changes in font size. We have tried to limit the number of articles affected significantly. We wanted to make font size proportions consistent across pages. We have also introduced a default "small" size that will be applied to various elements such as navigation, special and action pages, and more.

Will you increase the columns widths in Vector 2022 to account for the increased font size?

• Users will be able to increase the column width from the new menu on an individual basis.
• We have made the main pages have the full width by default. The goal was to keep a good line length and account for the increased font size.

I want my font to be larger or smaller than the provided options. What do I do?

In this scenario, we would recommend that you change settings within your local CSS or that you use built-in browser functionality in order to achieve this.

Dark mode: Basic terms, and how to enable or customize

What is the dark mode?

Dark mode provides users with an option to enable a darker color scheme. It makes it easier to read articles in low-light environments and can automatically match your devices' light/dark mode settings.

Can I customize the dark mode settings?

No.

At the moment, dark mode settings and colors are not customizable. However, we may consider adding customization options in future updates.

Will dark mode be the default setting?

If you enable dark mode on your device or operating system and select "Automatic" in the Appearance menu, then you will receive the dark theme automatically. However, most users have a "light" theme enabled on their device by default. The day mode will remain the default for them.

Why did this take so long?

The dark mode feature was widely requested by Wikimedians. In the recent years, there were several wishes submitted on the Community Wishlist Survey. But the feature was blocked for a long time for several reasons. You may read more about them on our blog post "Dark mode is coming". In short, the Foundation first needed to introduce so-called design tokens, preferences for logged out users, and general improvements to the skin architecture. We intentionally resolved some of these blockers during the Desktop Improvements project.

Dark mode: Compatibility and scope

I am seeing tables with dark text on a dark background, why?

This is because an article or a template hasn't been adjusted to dark mode by editors. Reach out to editors of the article or template and point to our recommendations page.

Editors need to fix issues where color is used. The team has documented the required fixes. The MediaWiki software will set text color when a background is defined, regardless of what that background is. That addresses the majority of issues with tables.

Will this work with my operating system preference?

Yes.

If you're using dark mode in your operating system, you'll automatically see dark mode on the wikis.

Will dark mode affect the appearance of images and other media?

Dark mode is designed to primarily affect the color of background and text. It should not affect images and other media.

The situation with templates is more complex. We would like to invite editors to ensure templates are compatible with dark mode. If you'd like to help us, kindly make sure that "meaningful colors" are not affected. Meaningful colors are colors that are essential to an entity, such as colors associated with sports medals and teams, political parties, flags, geological periods, infographic legends, etc.

See also:

• Recommendations for dark mode compatibility on Wikimedia wikis (watch this page to monitor it for recommendations)

Are there any known issues or limitations with dark mode?

Yes.

• Dark mode will not be available on skins other than Vector 2022 (desktop) and Minerva (mobile).
• Initially, we'll be focusing on the reading experience (articles and main pages in the reading mode). The editing features for these pages will be adjusted later.
• Dark mode will not be available on certain pages, such as the history and talk pages.
• There may be minor issues on older browsers or devices.
• Dark mode is currently incompatible with browsers that do not support CSS variables or where we do not support JavaScript.

Does dark mode impact the functionality of the wikis in any way?

No.

All features will continue to work as usual, but they will appear in a different color scheme. In some cases, features may not appear in dark mode and instead appear in the default light color schema. If you see any problems, please let us know.

Why didn't you just re-use the English Wikipedia gadget?

When applying a CSS transform to the Pantone article, the result is misinformation.

The gadget inverts all colors including colors which themselves portray knowledge. The main problem is that inverting all colors leads to misinformation. A good simple example is the Pantone article where the Color of the Year samples are changed. As a consequence, we needed to build something different which would change the colors selectively.

Will dark mode work if I have the gadget enabled?

No.

If you have the gadget enabled and our dark mode on at the same time, the two will cancel each other out and produce a distorted light mode. If you wish to test our feature, first disable the gadget. If you wish to keep using the gadget, then keep the day option in our menu.