I trust dang a lot; but in general I am scared of websites making "usability updates."
Modern design trends are going backwards. Tons of spacing around everything, super low information density, designed for touch first (i.e. giant hit-targets), and tons of other things that were considered bad practice just ten years ago.
So HN has its quirks, but I'd take what it is over what most 20-something designers would turn it into. See old.reddit Vs. new.reddit or even their app.
There's nothing trendy about making sure HN renders like a page from 15 years ago should. Relative font sizes are just so basic they should count as a bug fix and not "usability update".
Overall I would agree but I also agree with the above commenter. It’s ok for mobile but on a desktop view it’s very small when viewed at anything larger than 1080p. Zoom works but doesn’t stick. A simple change to the font size in css will make it legible for mobile, desktop, terminal, or space… font-size:2vw or something that scales.
It’s not ok for mobile. Misclicks all around if you don’t first pinch zoom to what you are trying to click.
Indeed, the vast majority of things I've flagged or hidden have been the accidental result of skipping that extra step of zooming.
> Zoom works but doesn’t stick.
perhaps try using a user agent that remembers your settings? e.g. firefox
Perhaps not recommend workarounds to lack of utilizing standards.