>Think of the extreme case: each line is half a page apart. Clearly, the eye has no problem finding the next line. I don't see how that's a refutation at all -

>Think of the extreme case: each line is half a page apart. Clearly, the eye has no problem finding the next line. I don't see how that's a refutation at all - if anything I think it supports my case. If each line is half-a-page apart, when you reach the end of the line you have to look down to find the start of the next one because you can't see where the next line is within your natural eye-line, preventing the sentence from flowing naturally. Whatsmore, people have no problems reading books or magazines which almost always have a relatively narrower leading than sites like A List Apart. I think the middle-ground is optimum for readability - if it's too narrow it's easy to mix up which line you're reading, if it's too wide it's difficult for the eye to find the next line so reading doesn't flow naturally. I can't help but conclude that someone read "leading is good" somewhere and took it to its logical conclusion which is making it excessive and this meme has caught on, much like how Fitts's Law has been abused as an excuse to make things unnecessarily and annoyingly big for little gain.