[jwm]

I agree. Websites that do this are awful, Google Plus is guilty of this.

Re combo-boxing the language list: Wikipedia is the most successful multi-language website by far. Highlighting this to new and old users is a great thing. Its not like the search box takes up any more than one line anyway.

For Wikipedia, this redesign blows. I do like the visual style though. This is really just showcasing the webdesign company's talent, right?

[stephengillie]

Wikipedia is probably the worst site for this redesign, which is probably why it's so eye catching - we're seeing all of these elements in a shape that's terrible for wiki but great for some other site. Since it's such a terrible fit for wiki, we can clearly see and identify elements we'd glaze over if we liked the changes.