Also, why is there an image of a slice of cake next to my use name?
When I held my cursor over it, it said it’s the anniversary of the day you joined.
This is absolutely not true. If you really want to talk about the early days of the web, the original HTML spec did not consider different screen aspect ratios at all. All monitors were 4:3 CRTs. CSS wasn’t introduced until 1996 and wasn’t uniformly supported by browsers until years later. The first widescreen monitors weren’t available until around 2003.
The principles of good web design do not say “use all the available pixels on the user’s display”. It’s about ease of consumption, consistency and aesthetics. User Experience.
I’m not complaining about white space. I have no white space to complain about – I’m using SDMB Dark. Much easier on the eyes.
Why do some people act like giving us the option of having the text fit a wide window would prevent the text from fitting a narrow window? Letting us have what we want would would not take away what you want.
It’s your Straight Dope anniversary!
I can’t imagine anyone is opposed to having a “wide” theme. People are just being recreationally argumentative, I think.
That’s sort of cute.
I thought the icon for that should be a little squid.
I don’t really get the complaints about white space.
For reference, here’s what a typical SDMB thread looked like on vBulletin 3.x. Text is small and fairly crowded, and lines fill the width of the browser window. The SDMB didn’t use a template where avatars and user information were in a column to the left, so there was a lot of clutter between posts:
- white space with the quote button on the right
- gap between post blocks
- gray block with date / post number / old post indicator
- blocks with user name / title / member status and join date / location / post count
- blank line
… and then the following post.
Adjusting for text size, all that crap took up just as much space between posts as the space between posts with the current SDMB light theme or the Sam’s Simple theme. (Firefox, Windows 10, Discourse SDMB Light: 15 px Arial, 21 px lines. vBulletin default indigo theme: 13.333 px Trebuchet, “normal” line spacing.)
Text is easier to read when lines are shorter, but not too short. When lines are too long, it’s harder to track back to the start of the following line. Cite. cite, cite, cite. For what it’s worth, most modern flat message board systems use a left column user info/avatar, right column message format, like this, which creates a lot of white space left of the content.
Line height is also a factor. Text becomes harder to read as it becomes more crowded, or too lose. Cite. The old SDMB used “normal” line spacing for text. The Discourse SDMB light theme has 21 px lines (again, FF / Windows 10), resulting in lines with a little bit more spacing than the default. This is a good thing. A different web typeface could make text more appealing and readable, like Open Sans or Roboto.
You can provide multiple cites that say the daytime sky is a deep red, but I can still look outside for myself. Longer lines means fewer lines, so I can read more without turning pages or scrolling. I can observe that by myself, and all the cites in the world can’t change that. Taking away my option to have longer lines doesn’t benefit you or anyone else in any way, and giving me that option doesn’t take anything away from you. You can still get your shorter lines by adjusting your window size. That’s what makes this just being recreationally argumentative.
It seems like you enjoy complaining, but now you’re scrapping the bottom of the barrel…
Better go yell at those pesky kids to get off your lawn! 
You still haven’t explained how my being able to get rid of the wasted space would harm you in any way. I’m waiting.
I noticed that trying to use the old board on my phone.
I feel like you are still addressing me. Maybe I’m wrong. But for the record:
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I am fine with the current width. In fact, I’d like it a little narrower. If I make the window as narrow as I’d like, I some some scrolling functionality as the board decides to prioritize text over that little local bar on the side, and I lose the location bar. So just like the old board, I am making my browser window wider when I visit the Dope.
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If someone can create a theme that shows a wider band of text, I am all in favor. So long as I’m not forced to use it, or to make my own window wider yet. But I am a fan of user options. And we obviously have a bunch of users who would like a wider block of text.
I was actually addressing all the condescending “stuck in the past” “get off my lawn” “you’re just afraid of change” “you just enjoy complaining” stuff that I’ve been seeing all too often since the switch. One poster in another thread actually called people who want the option to not see avatars like we had on the old board “whiny little babies”. But no one would be forced to use a wider band of text any more than they were on the old board. You can still adjust your window to give you a narrower band.
Well, down to a certain point. It seems most of the browsers have ridiculously wide minimum window widths now, but that’s a different gripe.
Really? You don’t get the complaints about wasted space when you just gave an example of exactly how much wasted space there is?
That graphic shows clearly how much better and how much more readable the current design is compared with the old board.
It proves the opposite of what you are saying. It’s a wonderful example of how valuable white space can be. 
Importance of Whitespace in Good Design
Defining True Creativity Through White Space in Graphic Design
Why is White Space Good For Graphic Design
White Space In Graphic Design: Guidelines & Examples
The power of white space
No it doesn’t. The old board was much more readable. But again. You can get all the whitespace you want by simply shrinking your window. You don’t have to force it on everyone else.
It’s been said multiple times that an additional theme or two with a wide layout would be totally fine. You keep obnoxiously arguing that the web standard approach the OOTB themes use is somehow wrong in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Changing the standard themes to a wider layout to accommodate you is not “we all get what we want”.