Wikipedia has added page previews for easier browsing

Wikipedia added a new useful feature earlier this week: previews of the page. The Wikimedia Foundation says it is "one of the biggest changes in the desktop version of Wikipedia made in recent years" and offers readers a pop-up window that provides some additional context for the article behind the link.

Reading through any Wikipedia page can turn into a rabbit hole that can take you to places you never expected. That exploration can be a fun and informative adventure, but it can also be a distraction, especially if the article you click on is not really useful. New page previews show an image and a couple of sentences that briefly describe the article by hovering over the link, providing a little more context for you to decide whether or not you need to click on the link. By clicking on the pop-up window, you will access the article in question and, if you move it away, it will disappear.

Wikimedia says that it made extensive A / B tests to develop the function, and found that most users did not disable the function, that "each reader interacts with the content of more pages while browsing the site" and that views of the general page of the site have been reduced as a result. That seems to mean that users find the information useful in those pop-up windows, which allows them to interact with more information, while remaining in fewer pages.

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