It's definitely all about the character count on each line (or line length) that improves the legibility.
As for the fellow that was frustrated with websites not adapting to narrow page widths, I would recommend he revisit the whole idea behind the separation of content and presentation via XHTML + CSS. He could easily turn off the author's stylesheet, use Opera's feature for applying your own stylesheet or read the site's RSS feed in a feed reader that allows you to create your own custom stylesheet for content (Sage is a great RSS reader Firefox plugin that does just that).
What is this talk of site designers limiting your options? You have more options now than ever.
by Jason Simanek — May 05
As for the fellow that was frustrated with websites not adapting to narrow page widths, I would recommend he revisit the whole idea behind the separation of content and presentation via XHTML + CSS. He could easily turn off the author's stylesheet, use Opera's feature for applying your own stylesheet or read the site's RSS feed in a feed reader that allows you to create your own custom stylesheet for content (Sage is a great RSS reader Firefox plugin that does just that).
What is this talk of site designers limiting your options? You have more options now than ever.