I have a beef with fixed width for a couple reasons:
1) I use a widescreen monitor.
2) The page width is, or should be, controlled by the user resizing the browser window.
I've had a few prolonged flaming threads on web-dev forums about this, since there are a lot of pro web-dev people who swear by fixed width and get very offended when someone criticizes it. The truth (IMO) about why people use it is that it simplifies certain design issues* within constraints placed on css techniques imposed by Microsoft because of IE (see the flames rising). These are solvable, altho it may sometimes require some javascript and in (a very few) cases scaling images, which some designers seem to think that should be spared at all costs. But in the case of the vast majority of fixed width pages, including the software you are using, none of that is necessity, it's just a fashion/habit.
A lot of forest gets lost for the trees here because people refuse to recognize that certain aspects of the user experience are fundamental, whereas other things are not. Also, I guess if all you do all day is make web pages look pretty you may be prone to certain kinds of mental decay. Even worse than the fixed width is the fixed font size, which leads to disasters like this:
http://cboard.cprogramming.com/proje...tml#post934874
I actually did send an email to gitorious about that because I think the open source programmer community deserves better, not some brain-dead corporate approach. Interestingly, they got back to me and said they agreed, that the site was being over-hauled and they'd add this to the list of things to correct.
The most interesting part is that if you surveyed pro web developers, I would wager a near majority of them would insist that using a fixed font size is good thing and they would never give it up! Even the criticism that this is a very bad thing to do to people who use a large minimum font because of impaired vision has been COMPLETELY REJECTED by the industry. They don't care. They want their pages "just-so", and who cares if anyone can actually read them. This is what I mean when I said it is normative to reject fundamentals (that the user should be able to control the font size in their browser without mangling the page) for what amounts to chintz.
Anyway, the fixed width page dates back to when The London Times, I believe, went on line. They commissioned some kind of study which revealed that on average, the most "readable" length of a line was 10-15 words. You can see how that would be bound to lead to fixed widths both for pages and fonts. Kind of interested in what motivated them to do that.
I had a look at the study last year sometime and all it was was testing a sample group in a lab. However, it is now often presented as having some deeper scientific meaning, such as "It is easiest for your brain to read lines 10-15 words in length", sometimes backed up with total conjecture about how the eye moves, which had nothing to do with the study. It was just an average of a random bunch of people.
I can tell you for a fact I read a lot more than average and have since I was a kid, and my ideal line length is not 10-15 words, it's at least two or three times that, which is why I like widescreen monitors. However, a lot of perhaps barely literate web dev people want to believe that this is not a matter of how well you read (therefore, widely variable) but on the physical nature of the eye and brain.
So this becomes the excuse, otherwise, they would have to acknowledge that the length of line should be up to the user, who can control it (if they find it easier) by shrinking the browser window.
But I appreciate variety and don't really have a problem with your site at all. Vis. "the subject of formatting and readability", I think what's implied here is that this is a mostly bogus field populated by charlatans collecting checks from the likes of The London Times to spew moronic pap. That study had a huge impact, is highly respected, and often cited. But maybe you can find someone wise in there if you dig. Probably the best place is to just look around the web and pay attention to things you think work. It is worth noting that businesses really really seem to go for the fixed width thing (the pages look business like that way, I guess, because this is a self perpetuating circle). It ain't me you're selling to.
I kind of think you should open up comments tho, you might get more fans that way. If I comment on something, I usually remember and come back to it.
* also, if your content is mostly 35 word blubs, it does look better if they each occupy more than just a single line.
