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TeX has a default of 66 characters per line. There's been research on this: > Traditional line length research, limited to print-based text, gave a variety of

TeX has a default of 66 characters per line. There's been research on this: > Traditional line length research, limited to print-based text, gave a variety of results, but generally for printed text it is widely accepted that line lengths fall between 45 and 75 characters per line (cpl), though the ideal is 66 cpl (including letters and spaces).[1] For conventional books line lengths tend to be 30 times the size of the type, but between 20 and 40 times is considered acceptable (i.e., 30 × 10pt font = 300 pt line).[1] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_length#Printed_text https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_length#Printed_text There's a section of "electronic text" as well which goes into some factors (flicker, glare), but the number doesn't seem to change that much. * https://webtypography.net/2.1.2 https://webtypography.net/2.1.2

gucci-on-fleek 1y ago
> TeX has a default of 66 characters per line. LaTeX defaults to that, but Plain TeX defaults to 10pt font with 1in margins, which is ~100 characters per line (which much too long to be readable).
- close04 1y ago
  Just to put in perspective, on a 1080p screen with no zooming the line length in a top level HN comment is ~200 characters including spaces. It's bearable because the comments tend to have just a few lines and a tree structure to avoid the wall of text. The blog referenced in the article as "extremely, almost unreadably bad" clocks in at ~300 characters per line, with the classic wall of text appearance which makes it very tiring to read.
IshKebab 1y ago
As the article notes, code is not prose. They're totally different. (So I don't know why he talks about line lengths in prose so much; it's basically irrelevant.)
kqr 1y ago
K&R uses longer lines: https://entropicthoughts.com/technical-writing-learning-from-kernighan https://entropicthoughts.com/technical-writing-learning-from... I wonder if technical density affects optimal line length.
euroderf 1y ago
I remember a book about letterpress printing recommending one and a half alphabets. So, like, 40 characters. Or maybe it included both UC and LC, which would make it about 80.
zvr 1y ago
From when trying out new fonts (and sizes) in a LaTeX memoir document: \typeout{xlvchars is \the\xlvchars; lxvchars is \the\lxvchars}

gucci-on-fleek 1y ago

> TeX has a default of 66 characters per line. LaTeX defaults to that, but Plain TeX defaults to 10pt font with 1in margins, which is ~100 characters per line (which much too long to be readable).

close04 1y ago
Just to put in perspective, on a 1080p screen with no zooming the line length in a top level HN comment is ~200 characters including spaces. It's bearable because the comments tend to have just a few lines and a tree structure to avoid the wall of text. The blog referenced in the article as "extremely, almost unreadably bad" clocks in at ~300 characters per line, with the classic wall of text appearance which makes it very tiring to read.

IshKebab 1y ago

As the article notes, code is not prose. They're totally different. (So I don't know why he talks about line lengths in prose so much; it's basically irrelevant.)

kqr 1y ago

K&R uses longer lines: https://entropicthoughts.com/technical-writing-learning-from-kernighan https://entropicthoughts.com/technical-writing-learning-from... I wonder if technical density affects optimal line length.

euroderf 1y ago

I remember a book about letterpress printing recommending one and a half alphabets. So, like, 40 characters. Or maybe it included both UC and LC, which would make it about 80.

zvr 1y ago

From when trying out new fonts (and sizes) in a LaTeX memoir document: \typeout{xlvchars is \the\xlvchars; lxvchars is \the\lxvchars}