I disagree to undesign: It's well-known in UX that text is much more readable if lines don't exceed a certain length. I am served with the wide variant of this page, and it's unreadable.
IMHO, the problem is that screens became wider and wider, whereas text normally grows vertically. It's not to the websites to fix this problem, but it's the screens that waste space.
You can fix it yourself by using mutliple windows next to each other or sidepanes for browser tabs, for example.
@fnetX So you are telling me that it's not the computer who should fix the layout but it's me who should manually adjust window sizes?
Why would this be a better solution than asking the user who requires shorter lines to adjust their windows instead?
I'd suggest using the word "popular" instead of "well known", since it is also well known that lot of people disagree with wasted spaces. I'm aware that lot of people happily use wasteful layouts, still, it's painful.
I know you disagree with the layout of the site, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_length "if they are too long, the content loses rhythm as the reader searches for the start of each line". This has been researched before computer screens were even invented, and a lot of even more research is put into this in the digital era.
If at all, I think this space should be used to move the pictures next to the text (but keep the space free where they aren't), or directly put references next to the text.
And I think it's a bad idea to ask users which require shorter lines to adjust their windows, because I suppose it's the vast majority of users who is more comfortable with shorter lines.
I think the button is enough (even more than I would expect). I hope the choice is saved in a cookie or account for you.
@fnetX I think you've failed to see the point: if you need shorter lines resize your window to give you shorter lines. The world works this way: if you are feeling cold you have to turn up the heating, it's a bad idea to set it to fixed 25°C.
@jacksonchen666 I probably should create a few webpages just for you using 40x25 pages of 8x8 pixels C=64 font (strictly light blue on blue), I'm pretty sure you'd love it. 😁
But! It is quite different occasionally reading a geeky typewriter font webpage from using Wikipedia about every day. I love real retro-looking blog looks, just wouldn't want to read hundreds of pages of it.
fnetX
•IMHO, the problem is that screens became wider and wider, whereas text normally grows vertically. It's not to the websites to fix this problem, but it's the screens that waste space.
You can fix it yourself by using mutliple windows next to each other or sidepanes for browser tabs, for example.
grin
•Why would this be a better solution than asking the user who requires shorter lines to adjust their windows instead?
I'd suggest using the word "popular" instead of "well known", since it is also well known that lot of people disagree with wasted spaces. I'm aware that lot of people happily use wasteful layouts, still, it's painful.
fnetX
•If at all, I think this space should be used to move the pictures next to the text (but keep the space free where they aren't), or directly put references next to the text.
typographic term
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)fnetX
•I think the button is enough (even more than I would expect). I hope the choice is saved in a cookie or account for you.
grin
•grin
•But! It is quite different occasionally reading a geeky typewriter font webpage from using Wikipedia about every day.
I love real retro-looking blog looks, just wouldn't want to read hundreds of pages of it.
grin
•Fixed!
grin.hu