Measure for measure, we’re much too long

SUMMARY

We’re in flagrant violation of Bringhurst rule 2.1.2: Choose a comfortable measure.

ʀᴇʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ: Static, unchanging font size, leading, and measure incompatible with dynamics of responsive design

The desktop line measure is still much, much too long
for comfortable reading of continuous text in a variable-width
font. This is wrong on both serifed and sans sites alike.
We’re using lines 100 characters long, which is completely
unreadable except maybe in a fixed-width face.

        ^{(And again, without manual correction.)}

The desktop line measure is still much, much too long for comfortable reading of continuous text in avariable-width font. This is wrong on both serifed and sans sites alike. We’re using lines 100 characters long,which is completely unreadable except maybe in a fixed-width face.

        ^{(And again, in constant-width.)}

The desktop line measure is still much, much too long for comfortable reading of continuous text in avariable-width font. This is wrong on both serifed and sans sites alike. We’re using lines 100 characters long,which is completely unreadable except maybe in a fixed-width face.

Or for those of you who aren’t on the desktop site, that’s:

Demonstrations of Badness

This demo from Monica’s answer here is a good example of
what happens with a bad measure:

Example 1 of way-too-long lines

Example 2 of way-too-long lines

This is no better on those rare sites with a bit
of serifed text, as demonstrated by this ELU answer:

Thus Spake Bringhurst

In The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst writes:

2.1.2 Choose a comfortable measure.

Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satis-
factory length of line for a single-column page set in a serifed
text face in a text size. The 66-character line (counting both
letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal. For multiple-
column work, a better average is 40 to 50 characters.
      If the type is well set and printed, lines of 85 or 90 charac-
ters will pose no problem in discontinuous tests, such as bibli-
ographies, or with generous leading, in footnotes. But even
with generous leading, a line that averages more than 76 or 80
characters is likely to be too long for continuous reading.

Or with serifs:

(Or course, you shouldn’t use hyphenation with a ragged margin,
but I’m trying to reproduce the book, which has a justified
right margin and thus some hyphenatinon.)

Demonstration of Goodness

For example, the New York Times uses a 66-character line:

Credit: “A Plum Tart That Keeps Its Charms Hidden”, Melissa Clark’s
regular “A Good Appetite” column from the August 31, 2018
print edition of The New York Times.

Let’s stop being so irresponsive

Notice how much easier the Times’ text is to read compared
with Monica’s or Sven’s? This is because we haven’t sized
the measure correctly. In other words, this is irresponsive
design, not the responsive design it’s purported to be.

The Times sets the font size and the measure in a way
that makes it easy to read no matter the viewport.

We don’t. We should.