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Wikipedia is one of the most popular sites in the world and for good reason, as it brings a wealth of user-created information to the masses, and it's almost hard to imagine how we got by before it was launched. Its content has grown rapidly over the years but the design and features have remained basically the same with a great amount of text and not much else. This is where Navify comes in, as it is meant to spruce up Wikipedia by adding photos and videos to the articles.
The new service, which entered public beta today, is just an alternative interface for viewing Wikipedia articles but adds two new layers with image and video tabs. The names are pretty self explanatory; the tabs feature images and videos related to the articles, taken from various sources, and added by users in a process similar to Wikipedia's. There are also sections where the content is gathered automatically from Flickr and YouTube.
The interface is simple enough if not particularly beautiful, trying to stay true to Wikipedia's aesthetics. The article itself comes straight from Wikipedia with all the original formatting, but the article column is a lot thinner than in the source, which can make things look a little crowded. This is just a beta though and the design is bound to be tweaked over time.
It's most potentially powerful feature though is that users can now discuss on every article in a threaded comment system and it will be interesting to see how the discussion goes on hotly disputed topics. Let's just hope that users don't get too carried away though, like anyone who has used an online forum before knows, it's highly unlikely. Navify isn't meant as a replacement for Wikipedia but looks to add more information and utility to a Wikipedia entry. It could prove a useful tool for anyone doing research on the online encyclopedia as now you don't have to use several sites to get all the content.
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