The biggest problem with just plain readability on the web is that older versions of MSIE don’t support CSS max-width, so it’s a challenge to make lines with a comfortable, readable width for all users. Make a “springy” layout but set max-width in ems (30-45em is good for a blog), and it works for users with a wide variety of browser window sizes and text sizes.

(Quick web design test: resize the browser window to 800 wide and the text to 16pt. If you can still use all the site’s functionality, you win.)

This website is highly usable. Jakob’s is not. You seem to understand that “to emphasize everything is to emphasize nothing.” You also make good use of color and typography to keep your site simple. Jakob’s does not.

Jakob’s biggest detractors, though, tend to have highly unusable websites. They take forever to load, they have compatibility problems, and they don’t say anything.

Quick! Does anyone remember what the T in HTML stands for?