> My most common response when landing on a website is to sigh, roll my eyes, and dump it to something more readable. Firefox's Reader Mode. Pocket. Straight ASCII text. w3m.
> My half-serious response to this is to create a new web browser embodying these and a few other principles.
In all seriousness, I wonder if spoofing a mobile client (easily done through most browser developer console's or an extension) might immediately result in a more useful experience for you on the majority of sites. Given the viewing constraints of most mobile platforms, and the focus on mobile accessibility (it's supposed to account for over 50% of traffic now), I imagine many sites try to but some minimum level of effort in to at least make it usable.
The majority of my browsing is mobile these days. 10" tablet.
Even sites which are otherwise well-designed (Aeon and Medium come to mind) insist on dark-pattern behavior such as fixed headers/footers. Again: straight to reader-mode for that.
(Screenshots contrasting site and a Reader Mode session included.)
I've written directly with the site designer who seems utterly insensate to why 14pt font isn't in fact a majickal solution to all readability problems.
Really? That seems unlikely. I mostly see people use phones, and small tables, so <= 7".
> Except for the sites which break that. Violet Blue's Peerlyst comes to mind
There will always be someone thwarting best practices, just as there will always be those that skirt or break the rules in systems that are less lenient. There's not a lot of recourse, you want what they've got, so you are at their whim unless you can work around their imposed difficulties or find another source.
> I've written directly with the site designer who seems utterly insensate to why 14pt font isn't in fact a majickal solution to all readability problems.
See above :/
> HN itself is only barely usable.
Yeah, but I think the reasoning behind HN is slightly different. I suspect HN assumes you will takes some appropriate steps to optimize your use of the platform. Instead of "we will tailor the view to our artistic vision and you shall not besmirch it!" it's more of a "we believe in user agency, so get off your ass and make it better for yourself." Depending on your point of view, skill level, and site usage, you might find one more appealing than the other.
Personally, I use one of the browser extensions that allows collapsible comments, inline replying, and user info on hover over username.
> Really? That seems unlikely. I mostly see people use phones, and small tables, so <= 7".
Ignore that, I misread the sentence. I thought you were saying most mobile browsing is with a 10" tablet. I'm not trying to tell you that you're wrong about your own reported habits...
> My half-serious response to this is to create a new web browser embodying these and a few other principles.
In all seriousness, I wonder if spoofing a mobile client (easily done through most browser developer console's or an extension) might immediately result in a more useful experience for you on the majority of sites. Given the viewing constraints of most mobile platforms, and the focus on mobile accessibility (it's supposed to account for over 50% of traffic now), I imagine many sites try to but some minimum level of effort in to at least make it usable.