Wikipedia, (en.wikipedia.org) the world’s favorite online encyclopedia, gets a new look from today, May 13, 2010 , 8:00 AM UTC. The major changes include vector user skin by default, improved navigation for reading & editing pages, a link wizard that simplifies addition of links to external sites & other wiki pages, search improvements etc.

The new design is a part of the usability initiative, started more than a year ago in April 2009 and was being tested in other Wikimedia projects like Wiki news and Wikipedia Commons. Earlier, in Dec 2008, Wikimedia had received an $890K grant from the Stanton Foundation to fund a team of developers and a project manager to examine and ultimately improve usability for the wiki editing interface for Wikipedia and all of Wikimedia’s projects. The recent new interface launch on the sister project, Wikpedia Commons, was retained by over 90% of the project contributors and this is now rolled out to the most famous Wikimedia project, the English Wikipedia. The new vector skin now replaced the previously default Monobook style. The new interface will soon cascade to other language wikipedias in the next few weeks.

• Navigation: Now the tabs on the top of the page will more clearly define whether you are reading or editing the page. The collapsible navigation on the left sidebar hides the items that aren’t used often.

• Editing Improvements: Formating pages is now simpler. A new table wizard helps to create tables easier. A new “Find and Replace’’ feature is also introduced.

• Search improvements: The search text box is now moved from left sidebar to the top right side of the page. The improved search suggestions will help the user to get to the seeking page faster.

• Pediapress book creator: Helps you to convert Wikipedia articles into a PDF or open document.

• Updated puzzle globe and wordmark: The world famous Wikipedia globe and wordmark is now enhanced. Wikimedia has introduced Linux Libertine, an open source typeface to help support the creation of hundreds of localized Wikipedia wordmarks, and the internationally-recognized puzzle globe has been recreated in 3D and includes even more languages.

I did personally like the new interface which is simple and clean, but there are few things that irritate me, especially the lack of support of the existing JavaScripts. As an advanced editor and admin, I use them heavily.

It will take some time for me to adjust to the arbitrary relocation of the search field to the top right of the page. My eyes will still be searching for the old search box on the left sidebar. But top of the page is a standard location for search boxes in most websites and hence it is sill Ok. But till I get back support of my javascripts, I think I will stay with the classic monobook theme.

Update : I have switched to the new vector theme now after getting issues with my JavaScripts fixed.