from Hacker News

Ask HN: Max line length for visually impaired

by yeukhon on 3/23/23, 6:13 AM with 6 comments

Max line length has always been a hot potato. I want to ask the community, especially those who do research in accessibility and those who are visually impaired, what are your experience/understanding of the effect of line length?

Specifically, there is a great debate over 80 characters, 88 characters, or even 120 characters.

Does max line length matter when visually impaired developers have access to a larger screen?

  • by zer00eyz on 3/23/23, 7:43 AM

    Line length matters if you are a heavy zoom user.

    This is pretty easy to see for your self, in a browser, on this page by using zoom under "view". Reasonable sized lines and or soft wraps help greatly!

  • by gostsamo on 3/23/23, 6:52 AM

    I'm blind and line length matters to the extend that long lines are harder to edit in the middle.