Translations:Reading/Web/Desktop Improvements/Features/Limiting content width/24/en

Without studying readability of Wikimedia wiki pages directly we can’t know what is optimal, but in an attempt to make an educated guess we start with the research on optimal line length for readable text. The research and recommendations in this area seem to be well established. The Wikipedia page on Line Length provides a good overview, as does the essay [$link1 Size Matters: Balancing Line Length And Font Size In Responsive Web Design] by Professor Laura Franz. The research study [$link2 Computer text line lengths affect reading and learning] by By Peter Orton, Ph.D. IBM Center for Advanced Learning is a more rigorous, academic study. The popular recommendation is that there should be between 40 and 75 characters per line. The findings of multiple studies conclude that "short line lengths are easier to read", and furthermore regarding learning and information retention "Subjects reading the narrow paragraphs had better retention than those reading the wide paragraphs". One can find many popular sites that conform to these guidelines. Articles on the online science journal [$link4 Nature] have a max-width resulting in ~76 characters per line, [$link5 New York Times] articles are ~64 characters per line, [$link6 Times of India] articles are ~100 characters (Hindi), [$link7 Oxford Academic] journal articles are ~75, and articles on the [$link8 World Health Organization]’s website are ~96 (Latin alphabet), ~46 (Chinese alphabet), and ~85 (Cyrillic alphabet). It is also worth noting that when using reading mode in Safari or Firefox text is rendered at ~73 and ~77 characters per line respectively (Latin alphabet).