"Optimum reading line length is" a very personal decision of the user. The same applies to "If the lines are longer". We're not using Lynx in a native terminal any more that often. We're all able to resize our windows to any size that suits us. With that line length is not, has not to be and should not be a question of web design but of the user's window arrangement.

contd.: Billions of GBP, USD, EUR, whatever could be saved per year if the myriads of web designers, developers, their managers, etc. wouldn't have to worry about screen sizes of users at the other end of the world (which is a pure perversity, if you savor that slowly). Not everything that can be done has to be done.

@GeroldBroser My answer is based on the results of speed and comprehension testing with real users. From your comments, I can see you don't like it but you don't provide any counter-evidence. I'd also like to see your evidence of the cost of catering for multiple screen sizes. Your insinuation that this is a problem for "the other side of the world" seems to be at odds with the concept of global products and services as well as the idea of a 'World Wide Web'. Lastly, I'm unsure of the relevance of the Lynx browser you referenced with links in every comment. Is there something special about it?

@GeroldBroserreinstatesMonica and @AndrewMartin, I've deleted several comments from both of you and moved this to chat.

The comments really became more of a chat, and that isn't the intended goal of the comments from a post.

@JohnGB Abolutely OK for me. Thank you! (BTW, are these also your [last name's] initials or is it the island you live on? :)

@JohnGB correction after reading profile: ... you come from?