Suggestion Line length of text on forum

[Wayfarer]

(just tried searching if this had already been suggested and couldn't find anything - it's possible I missed it though)

Would it be at all possible to make the line length on the forum smaller? Obviously it works fine as it is; it's just you often end up having between 40-50 words per line! Maybe this isn't an issue for other people? Or perhaps there's a reason for it: like maybe XenForo software only allows text like this or YoYo Games wants it to be like this. I'm curious more than anything else.

 

[TsukaYuriko]

I don't see any issue in it myself, and I'm not aware of any user setting for it. I'm not an administrator and have no experience with the Xenforo admin options otherwise, so I can't make any statements regarding that.

Making the browser window smaller should work, as post containers adapt to that. This may or may not be an acceptable workaround as it can negatively affect other things, but it's there in cases of acute diulineephobia.

 

[Wayfarer]

but it's there in cases of acute diulineephobia.

I googled that thinking it was a real thing!

As far as I'm aware, there have been lots of studies on line length and the optimal number of characters per line (how well the studies are done I can't really speak for - I just know it's something that has been looked into quite a lot) and the conclusion is often that text within a certain range of characters is best for readability and comprehension. I believe the target numbers are often around 50-100 (the GMC is around 250 characters). However, I'm not going to speak for the studies since I'm not really equipped too. What I do know is I personally find reading shorter lines easier.

You probably don't need to read this (and likely already know this), but here's a site explaining the general concept (just to show that thinking about line length is an actual thing ):
https://practicaltypography.com/line-length.html

On the flipside, I know there's also some research that suggests that something that is harder to read can be more memorable because you have to put more effort into reading it! So maybe that's a benefit for longer lines (again, I'm no expert on this so I can't say how true that is, only that there seems to be articles on this).

Making the browser window smaller should work, as post containers adapt to that. This may or may not be an acceptable workaround as it can negatively affect other things, but it's there in cases of acute diulineephobia.

Appreciate the suggestion

 

[Tsa05]

Step 1) Switch to Chrome or Firefox if, for any reason, you accidentally forgot to do so
Step 2) Download Tampermonkey for Chrome or Greasemonkey for Firefox
Step 3) Add a userscript

// ==UserScript==
// @name         Skinnyify GMC
// @namespace    http://tampermonkey.net/
// @version      0.1
// @description  Make posts 50 ems wide
// @author       You
// @match        https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php*
// @grant        GM_addStyle
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
    GM_addStyle ( `
    .messageText {
        width:50em !important;
    }
` );
})();

Step 4) Profit???

 

[Wayfarer]

@Tsa05
I'm generally wary with using add-ons though this could be a worthy exception to that rule! Thanks for that

 

[Tsa05]

My pleasure
The various browser monkeys are a pretty neat type of extension; rather than installing someone's weird mod code for a page, tampermonkey lets you make your own personal modifications to any site you want.

 

[Rob]

You could always press
enter more often, like
this?