விக்கிப்பீடியா:Request for Comment/Web fonts implementation for Tamil Wikimedia projects

சூன், 2013ல் தமிழ் விக்கிமீடியா திட்டங்களில் நடைமுறைப்படுத்தப்பட்ட இணைய எழுத்துரு பயன்பாட்டைக் குறித்த தமிழ் விக்கிமீடியா சமூகத்தின் கருத்தை விக்கிமீடியா அறக்கட்டளையின் மென்பொருள் உருவாக்குனர்கள் முன்வைத்து உரிய தீர்வு காணும் பொருட்டு இந்த கருத்து கோரும் பக்கம் உருவாக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

Background

Tamil is a classical language with a global presence. It has a population of around 80 million. To put it in context, it is almost equal to the population of Germany and is bigger than the population of every other European country except Russia. Tamil Wikipedia has been operational for last ten years since 2003. It is one of the leading Indian language Wikimedia community by means of number of articles, traffic and community strength. Tamil Wiktionary project has more than 280,000 words and is ranked Top 12 among global Wiktionaries. Tamil Wikipedia alone gets 5300 pageviews an hour which amounted to 3.8 million page views in May 2013. Tamil Wikipedians form a mature community and strive for excellence in all spheres of Wiki activisim including design, coding, content and outreach. Given this background, we expect and make sure that every single design, usability, content and policy decision regarding the project is well discussed, tested and implemented only after community consensus.

Bugs regarding June 2013 web fonts implementation in Tamil Wikimedia projects

• The default web font Lohit Tamil is illegible and smudged resulting in poor reading experience across all browsers in Windows OS. The font size is small and the individual character width is lean which could be a problem for people with different visual capabilities. Majority of Tamil Wikipedia users access the website through Windows OS and hence this is a major issue.

Screenshot of Tamil Wikipedia in Chrome browser in Windows OS after web fonts implementation. The font is illegible and smudeged resulting in poor readability.

• Pages take longer time to load across all OS and browsers. Browsers freeze for a while before loading bigger or script heavy pages.

Screenshot of Tamil Wikipedia in Safari browser in iOS 6 (iPad mini) after web fonts implementation. The letters are completely scrambled and not readable at all. Same is the case with other web font choices offered. Only the system font lets us to read properly.

• The letters are scrambled / broken in Chrome and Safari browser in iOS 6 running in iPad mini. This is ZERO readability. They were displaying the system font without any issue before web fonts implementation.

Screenshot of Tamil Wikipedia in Chrome browser in iOS 6 (iPad mini) after web fonts implementation. The site looks OK to read before the web fonts get loaded after which the letters are completely broken.

• Every time a new page is opened in Chrome and Safari browser in iOS 6 running in iPad mini, the page gets refreshed to load the web font resulting in poor reading experience. Worse, the system font works well which gets replaced by the web font which is broken.

Screenshot of Tamil Wikipedia in Chrome browser in iOS 6 (iPad mini) after web fonts implementation. The letters are completely scrambled and not readable at all. Same is the case with other web font choices offered. Only the system font lets us to read properly.

• Chrome browser hangs and restarts when Recent Changes page is opened in Chrome browser in iOS 6 running in iPad mini.
• Safari browser in iPhone crashes on opening the home page.

Error on loading the Recent changes page

Tamil Wikimedia Community would like to be clarified on the following

• On a mail written on Dec 14, 2011 at 9:49 AM by Siebrand Mazeland (WMF), it is mentioned as below:

//On Monday December 12 at 18:00 UTC we deployed the extension WebFonts to 40 wikis in 11 Indic languages and Wikimedia Incubator -- all wikis in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, (Eastern) Punjabi, Sankrit and Telugu have WebFonts now. WebFonts was not deployed on Malayalam and Tamil projects. The reason for this was that community members had requested us not to. We are confident that in time, the communities will request that WebFonts is enabled on their projects.//

Now, who requested for this feature to be implemented in Tamil Wikimedia projects? Was there a community consensus? Did the developers request for the community's view or invite them to beta test?

• https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=31936 clearly states that the community doesn't want this feature. How come this request was over ridden?

• Can this feature be implemented only for the systems that don't have a system font that can't display Tamil Unicode properly?

Proposal from Tamil Wikimedia Community

The Tamil Wikimedia Community unanimously proposes

• That the web fonts extension / implementation be disabled for all Tamil Wikimedia projects with immediate effect.
• That the same feature shall not be reintroduced in future without explicit permission or request from the Tamil Wikimedia Community.
• That the bugs regarding web fonts implementation mentioned above be addressed immediately.

Support

1. Strong support. The recent Web fonts implementation is buggy. Bad typography is bad design and can kill both readership and contribution. Long time contributors are already frustrated with this change. If this should really be a free encylopedia, then the community's consensus should be given priority. Please revoke the web fonts feature. We didn't need it. It is breaking an already well developed website.--இரவி (பேச்சு) 19:44, 12 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
2. It is hard to read Tamil words in new font after web fonts implementation. I am so disappointed and I am sure that readers will be disappointed also. --மதனாகரன் (பேச்சு) 01:26, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
3. Strong support - Kanags ^{\உரையாடுக} 03:15, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
4. One of the amazing features of Wikipedia and its sister Projects is the ability and freedom their users have in sharing information without being constrained by a centralizing and top-down structure or operation. In my experience of more than three years as regular contributor to Tamil Wikpedia and Tamil Wikisource I have found that the Tamil Wiki Community has always acted on the basis of consensus-building and collaboration rather than outright imposition from above in matters relating to web design, font preference, aesthetic appeal and practicality of font appearance, etc. Not being a computer wiz myself, I can confidently state that the recent changes (web font extension and related modifications) made to Tamil Wikipedia have done enormous harm to its growth, not to speak of its inhibiting effect on contributors. Switching from one language to the other is more complicated now, after the changes have been introduced. The new font is not only aesthetically unappealing and repulsive, it appears terribly unfriendly, too. Wikipedia Project prides itself as being user-friendly but the latest changes introduced don't seem to reflect that core principle. The best judges of any language Wiki are the users who read, write and communicate in that particular language. In the case of Tamil, it is preposterous to argue that since other Indian languages have accepted the recent changes, Tamil Wiki also must fall in line. I don't think so. The font newly introduced just does not fit. The letters appear ridiculously thin and contorted, with gaps here and there. Even after enlarging the font size all that one gets is an anaemic, pale, dull and stickly set of letters that look so lifeless as to turn off the desire to read, edit or compose a text. Therefore, I strongly urge that the recent changes introduced regarding web font, switching between languages, etc. be withdrawn right away. Reasons: 1) The Tamil web community is the best judge in this matter and this community is unhappy with the changes introduced unilaterally and with scant sensibility to its growth. 2) The core principles of Wikipedia include consensu-builing, collaboration, user-friendly attitude rather than top-down imposition as seems to have happened in the case of the present uncalled for and potentially harmful changes. --பவுல்-Paul (பேச்சு) 03:43, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
5. Its really horrible to do such modifications without the communities acceptance. The tech team said “lohit tamil” is widely used in android OS!!. Is this a valid reason to kill a well grown wiki project? STOP TAKING BACK US TO THE STONE AGE. --அராபத் (பேச்சு) 05:14, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
6. Strong support. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Yes, of course. The motto or verse was a trigger point and drag me to the Wikipedia, and I have finished 1 year contribution as an editor and counting on. Also, I had long time experience with Wikipedia, especially with Tamil Wikipedia. But, the Lohit Tamil font {dislike} and its default status made me very disappointment in the Tamil Wikipedia environment as reader and editor. I hope Tamil Wikipedia will not have unofficial motto/verse like this Tamil Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can’t read (தமிழ் விக்கிப்பீடியா, யாவராலும் பார்க்கக் கூடாத ஒரு கட்டற்ற கலைக்களஞ்சியம்). --Anton (பேச்சு) 06:02, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
7. Strong support and Strongly agrees with Anton's Point. Please avoid this type of enhancement again without the knowledge of Local Wikipedians.--தென்காசி சுப்பிரமணியன் (பேச்சு) 08:22, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
8. Strong support --ஜெ.மயூரேசன் (பேச்சு) 08:35, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
9. Strong support. The internet penetration of Tamil and allied languages were initially retarded by ASCII standards which couldnot accommadate our fonts. We had to deploy beyond 128 bytes and evolve our own TSCII standards. Then Unicode implementation again didnt take care of our requirements and we had to put up with whatever that is forced on us. Now when suitable free webfonts are not yet developed this half-baked webfont is made the default font for wikipedia. I have been contributed nearly 2000 articles and all of a sudden I find they can't be read bcoz of a FOSS initiative. Either wikimedia foundation should direct its energies to develop a free webfont of appropriate standards before deploying this initiative or postpone this until one is available. When non-free images can be used with justification, so are non-free system fonts, when suitable alternatives are not available. We should not miss the wood for trees.--மணியன் (பேச்சு) 08:39, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
10. Support. I don't use Windows or iOS regularly, but the screenshots look pretty bad and unreadable. -- சுந்தர் ^{\பேச்சு} 08:44, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)
11. Strong support. --ஆதவன் (பேச்சு) 09:05, 13 சூன் 2013 (UTC)