wikispaces

Wikispaces Gets a Space-Lift: A New Look for Wikispaces

December 22nd, 2008 by Jessica

We just launched our redesign of Wikispaces, bringing you a new Wikispaces home page and a consistent, attractive look across the site! After all the hard work designing and developing, we’re very excited to release the new version of Wikispaces to you.


Our New Look

    As soon as you head to http://www.wikispaces.com, you’ll notice the difference. We’ve freshened up our site with a healthy dose of the color blue, a handful of gradients, and a few rounded corners. We’re a little more Web 2.0 now, and it feels good.

    From our home page, it is also easier for new users to learn about Wikispaces. We created a top navigation bar containing links and search. The most relevant links are now immediately accessible so you can easily explore the site.

    Once you log in, you’ll notice that the “Actions” and “My Wikis” sections, which used to appear on the left-side of the page, will appear at the top. By grouping all of the options there, instead of in separate regions, we hope to improve the ease of navigation for you.

Easily Access Your Wikis Anywhere on the Site

    Now, instead of seeing a list of your wikis on the left-hand side of Wikispaces, you can find them by clicking on the green arrow at the top of the page. Since the “My Wikis” icon is available on any page across the site, you can go from one wiki to another with just a few clicks. The top 20 wikis in the “Favorite Wikis” section of your dashboard will automatically appear here.

This is our first major cosmetic code-surgery, and we hope you like it! This redesign hasn’t changed any individual wikis, so your own themes are safe and untouched. As always, we are delighted to hear your feedback, so please let us know your thoughts at help@wikispaces.com.

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23 Responses to “Wikispaces Gets a Space-Lift: A New Look for Wikispaces”

  1. on 22 Dec 2008 at 1:30 pm1 Alan Stange

    The changes do look nice and user friendly. Thanks for the hard work.

  2. on 23 Dec 2008 at 8:13 am2 Matthew Bracey

    I’m impressed with the new changes. Very user freindly

  3. on 24 Dec 2008 at 9:24 am3 Elissa

    The new changes look fabulous and are very easy to use. Thanks for constantly trying to improve wikispaces.

  4. on 24 Dec 2008 at 10:34 am4 mrlane

    Love the changes, makes everything so much easier to use. And, yes, the sprucing up with color does help!

  5. on 24 Dec 2008 at 3:18 pm5 Laura Brown

    Your new layout is breezy and to the point. I look forward to using the product! Kudos to your design team.

  6. on 29 Dec 2008 at 5:56 pm6 ValerieT

    To be honest, I don’t like the changes and I think the old one was better and less confusing.

  7. on 30 Dec 2008 at 1:50 pm7 Greg Heuer

    You guys a doing a fantastic job. My tech support questions are answered in a flash. I really like the ‘green arrow’ because I used to have to have 8 bookmarks taking up space on my bookmark bar. We have 25 authors working on the Skill Standards from all over the US and Canada. We absolutely could NOT have done it without WIKISPACES. [gh]

  8. on 30 Dec 2008 at 9:13 pm8 Crystal Li

    The whole site has an overall modern look that rivals Wikipedia. Well done to the Wikispaces team, this is an amazing change!

  9. on 31 Dec 2008 at 6:46 am9 Rachel Murphy

    First I want to say that I love wikispaces, and the changes look “nice.”

    However, I think important functionality has been lost. I miss the sidebar. For someone subscribed to more than 20 wikispaces, I find it cumbersome to have to go to the next page (either from the homepage or the green arrow). I have tried traditional bookmarking rather than subscribing so that I can limit my subscriptions to 20…..I’d rather see some sort of folder organization system. The drag and drop to order the wiki’s is great….all it needs is the ability to create some sort of collapsible & customizable folder system and it would be awesome.

    I loved having wikispaces news right in the middle of my homepage so I instantly could view what changes have been made or suggestions that wikispaces was sharing. Having to scroll to see IF there is any news is cumbersome. It seems to be hidden at the bottom now.

    I have a lot of wasted whitespace in the middle of my screen-because many of my sites are not highly active ones with new members or edits.

    Sorry, but I had to share my thoughts on the redesign. Wikispaces is my favorite tool to share with educators and I am sure I will get “used to” the new way of working.

  10. on 31 Dec 2008 at 8:24 am10 Haley

    I don’t like the new wikispaces!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss the side bar where all my spaces were!! It was easier to acess and I had to move all my spaces into favorites to access them and then once I did that there were too many and the arrow couldn’t fit them all :(

    But I like the colors and stuff but I liked the side bar…

  11. on 01 Jan 2009 at 11:01 am11 Jamie

    I too cannot figure out how to designate my wiki as a k12 so that I can set up my classroom. Help!

  12. on 02 Jan 2009 at 9:51 am12 Sarah

    You can request an upgrade for your K-12 wiki by going to “Manage Wiki” and “Subscription.” The link is at the bottom of the page.

    Best,
    Sarah

  13. on 02 Jan 2009 at 5:39 pm13 Sarah

    Rachel and Haley,

    Thanks for your feedback.

    We will take what you say into consideration as we work to improve the look and ease of Wikispaces in the future, including adding more wikis to the green “My Wikis” arrow and making them easier to organize.

    Rachel, one thing you could do to clear up the white space on your dashboard is to rearrange the wikis that appear on our dashboard. You can click and drag on them to bring the more active wikis to the top. You can also add more wikis to your dashboard by typing in the wiki name at “Add a wiki to this list.”

    Sarah

  14. on 02 Jan 2009 at 5:40 pm14 Sarah

    ValerieT,

    What do you find confusing about the new design?

    Sarah

  15. on 04 Jan 2009 at 11:29 am15 Leslie Healey

    I love the new User Creator function: it is so fast and easy (for someone who has earned every bit of her tech knowledge with blood, sweat and tears). Thanks.

  16. on 05 Jan 2009 at 12:36 pm16 Gina

    Love the wiki…it looks great…thanks for all the hard work..The more user friendly the better.

  17. on 05 Jan 2009 at 2:14 pm17 Michelle

    Love the new feature that allows me to add my own student accounts. I will now use Wikispaces more often. The new look is great, and the large buttons are easy to navigate. Thanks for providing a free service to public education.

  18. on 06 Jan 2009 at 9:57 am18 Amanda

    i think the new look is just fine. it could use some more color kind of like myspace! but i think that the new changes were great other than the fact that we weren’t expecting these changes!

  19. on 06 Jan 2009 at 4:23 pm19 Peter

    The new GUI looks nice. Wonderful use of Javascript too!!!
    But as far as I can tell, it reset all of my settings. But it has become a more user friendly site than before. GOOD JOB!!!
    :D

    Also HTML support for the wikis would be a very nice addition too.

  20. on 15 Jan 2009 at 11:42 am20 Deanie Fincher

    I hate this new look. I need that sidebar to get around. I was just learning to navigate. Help!!! Put it back.

  21. on 19 Jan 2009 at 9:09 am21 Filipp Alaverdyan

    The design is great, very user friendly.

  22. on 21 Jan 2009 at 2:19 pm22 Chuck

    I am new to Wikis and have found Wikispaces to be very easy to learn and use. I am a superintendent of a rural school district in New York State and in one week created four Wikis; a “Mother” wiki, web resources for teachers,
    K-6 Reading Project and Capital Project development.

    My intent was to create collaborative spaces where partners from a variety of disciplines (eduation, finance, legal, etc) could work together. So far I am very pleased with the potential.

    Thanks for providing the spaces free to educational organizations. I love it.

  23. on 17 Mar 2009 at 8:35 pm23 Wikispaces Blog » Blog Archive » Wikispaces Birthday Week: Recap

    [...] redesigned Wikispaces.com from the ground up, retaining the simplicity and ease of use our members love while adding [...]