Wikiwand

Wikiwand
Type of business Private, Startup company
Available in English
Founded 2013
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) Lior Grossman, Ilan Lewin
Employees 10+
Slogan(s) The world's leading Wikipedia reader
Website www.wikiwand.com
Registration Optional
Current status Online
Native client(s) on iOS

Wikiwand is a proprietary software interface developed for viewing Wikipedia articles[1] available for several popular web browsers as a free browser extension or mobile app.

History

Wikiwand (originally WikiWand) was founded in 2013 by Lior Grossman and Ilan Lewin.[2] Officially launched in August 2014,[3] the interface includes a sidebar menu, navigation bar, personalized links to other languages, new typography, and access to previews of linked articles.[4] The list of contents is constantly displayed on the left-hand side.[5]

According to Grossman, "It didn’t make sense to us that the fifth most popular website in the world, used by half a billion people, has an interface that hasn’t been updated in over a decade. We found the Wikipedia interface cluttered, hard to read (large blocks of small text), hard to navigate, and lacking in terms of usability."[6]

Availability

The interface is available on Chrome, Safari (Safari version is not available for download) and Firefox as well as via Wikiwand's website. In March 2015, Wikiwand released an iOS app for iPhone and iPad.[7]

Funding

Wikiwand was able to raise $600,000 to support the development of the interface. It has stated that it intends to donate 30% of its profits to the Wikimedia Foundation.[6][8]

References

  1. Jillian Wong (21 August 2014). "'WikiWand' Gives Wikipedia Clean New Layout For A Better Reading Experience". Taxi. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  2. "WikiWand". CrunchBase. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  3. "WikiWand". Twitter. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  4. Martin Brinkmann (14 August 2014). "WikiWand is a modernized Wikipedia frontend". ghacks.net. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  5. "WikiWand makes Wikipedia beautiful". TNW. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Web App WikiWand Raises $600,000 To Give Wikipedia A New Interface". techcrunch.com. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  7. Zach Epstein (18 March 2015). "New free iPhone app transforms Wikipedia into a stunning interactive experience". Yahoo. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  8. "About - Wikiwand". Wikiwand. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015.
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