There is a wad of threads here. I'll just tug a couple of strands.
First, websites have always been shaped by the browser and browser settings. "Real" web designers decried the efforts of graphic designers to control the way sites looked.
HTML is a markup language, not a layout system. Graphic designers tried to overcome the limitations; David Siegel's 'Creating Killer Websites' was, for better and for worse, an example of valiant efforts to "save" the web from itself. Many people (including Don's partner Jakob Nielsen) worked in opposition to that (also or better and for worse.)
Web standards were developed that allowed visual control but still kept content and layout separate. As they became visually more sophisticated, this still allowed reader choice. (They also allow access for web readers for the blind and other adaptive equipment.)
One piece of bad news about that is that most users are unaware of their power to shape the way things look and/or just plain don't want to (i.e., they don't want to go to the trouble or they don't want to have to consider what they want.) Can you imagine most people's reaction if they went into a bookstore, asked for a book, and the clerk said "Caslon or Jensen? What point size? How much leading? What color of white do you want the pages to be?"
I remember someone (an old typesetter, I believe) complaining about the gray type on Design Observer. When we told him that (a) many of us preferred the way it was and (b) he could make it look the way he wanted in less than five seconds, he said he didn't understand why he should go to all of that trouble because someone else had bad judgement in type presentation.
Simplifying reading also has the advantage of getting rid of ads and other stuff that slows down loading. The bad news is that it gets rid of ads and other stuff that support the website financially. Right now, many of the sites we want to read can only afford to exist because they distract us visually and invade our privacy.
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
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Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
http://www.gunnarswanson.com
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