Take the 2-minute tour ×  People keep claiming that shorter
lines are easier to read - especially when discussing user
interfaces and fixed width layouts.  I recall a stack overflow
question years ago where someone essentially debunked this and
had studies to prove that long line lengths were not only not a
problem, but actually resulted in faster reading and
comprehension, thus supporting his assertion that wide screen
monitors and wide editor windows were useful, and that limiting
writing to a certain number of characters per line was a waste
of time.  Unfortunately I can't find it now, and perhaps there
are studies or information that they missed, or has been
released since then.    • Is there an "optimal" line length for
reading?   • Is it true that very short line lengths are faster
and/or easier to comprehend than long lines (for instance, in
newspaper columns)? share|improve this question self test: open
up a wall of text story on fanfiction.net and see what layout
reads faster: full, 3/4 or 1/2 width