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Is there a workaround for the unsearchable collapsed default view for mobile Wikipedia pages?

by vernie 5y ago

forgotmypw17 5y ago
I don't think so, because the sections are lazy-loaded, and also discarded when the page is instantiated. This also means that when you press the Back button, the sections are collapsed, and you lose the place where you just were. All-around a terrible design and implementation from usability perspective, in my opinion.
- iggldiggl 5y ago
  The text itself isn't lazy-loaded – I can load any Wikipedia article, go offline, and still successfully expand all sections. Images are lazy-loaded, though, and while this has some merits, for the offline use-case this is equally somewhat annoying. Also yes about the scroll position – while at least occasionally (possibly within the same session, but not if you're closing and later re-opening the whole browser) it seems like Wikipedia tries remembering which sections were opens and which were collapsed, it happens too late in comparison to the browser attempting the restore your scroll position. So if you had scrolled farther than you can scroll in the completely unepxanded state of the stage, your scroll position will be lost.
  - forgotmypw17 5y ago
    > I can load any Wikipedia article, go offline, and still successfully expand all sections. This definitely has not been the case for me. If I don't expand the sections while online, I can't do it when offline.
carlinmack 5y ago
The app allows you to search within the article. Normally apps are a hard sell, but it's genuinely good
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  I like that it lets me save pages for offline reading
bawolff 5y ago
The desktop view! Some people on mobile phones like the desktop view with timeless skin (add ?useskin=timeless to end of url). E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_between_Quebec_and_Newfoundland_and_Labrador?useskin=timeless https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_between_Quebec_and_Newf... (assuming you arent autoredirected to mobile)
nightpool 5y ago
If I need to search, I get around this by just scrolling to the bottom of the article and uncollapsing each section from the bottom to the top. This ends up being very fast for most articles, because uncollapsing the lowest section won't move any of the previous sections, so you can tap through them quickly.
MatmaRex 5y ago
Surprisingly, there is a toggle for this in [hamburger menu] → Settings, or directly here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileOptions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileOptions (The toggle only appears on small devices, as on larger devices there is no section collapsing.)

Is there a workaround for the unsearchable collapsed default view for mobile Wikipedia pages?

by vernie 5y ago

Is there a workaround for the unsearchable collapsed default view for mobile Wikipedia pages?

I don't think so, because the sections are lazy-loaded, and also discarded when the page is instantiated. This also means that when you press the Back button, the sections are collapsed, and you lose the place where you just were. All-around a terrible design and implementation from usability perspective, in my opinion.

iggldiggl 5y ago
The text itself isn't lazy-loaded – I can load any Wikipedia article, go offline, and still successfully expand all sections. Images are lazy-loaded, though, and while this has some merits, for the offline use-case this is equally somewhat annoying. Also yes about the scroll position – while at least occasionally (possibly within the same session, but not if you're closing and later re-opening the whole browser) it seems like Wikipedia tries remembering which sections were opens and which were collapsed, it happens too late in comparison to the browser attempting the restore your scroll position. So if you had scrolled farther than you can scroll in the completely unepxanded state of the stage, your scroll position will be lost.
- forgotmypw17 5y ago
  > I can load any Wikipedia article, go offline, and still successfully expand all sections. This definitely has not been the case for me. If I don't expand the sections while online, I can't do it when offline.

carlinmack 5y ago

The app allows you to search within the article. Normally apps are a hard sell, but it's genuinely good

yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
I like that it lets me save pages for offline reading

bawolff 5y ago

The desktop view! Some people on mobile phones like the desktop view with timeless skin (add ?useskin=timeless to end of url). E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_between_Quebec_and_Newfoundland_and_Labrador?useskin=timeless https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_between_Quebec_and_Newf... (assuming you arent autoredirected to mobile)

nightpool 5y ago

If I need to search, I get around this by just scrolling to the bottom of the article and uncollapsing each section from the bottom to the top. This ends up being very fast for most articles, because uncollapsing the lowest section won't move any of the previous sections, so you can tap through them quickly.

MatmaRex 5y ago

Surprisingly, there is a toggle for this in [hamburger menu] → Settings, or directly here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileOptions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileOptions (The toggle only appears on small devices, as on larger devices there is no section collapsing.)