> Firstly, I hate sites that use such a narrow column on the screen.

FWIW most professional typographers recommend a column width of 30-40em. Much more than that seriously increases the distance the eye has to travel from the end of one line to the beginning of the next, and makes it harder to keep track of where you are.

The max-width of this blog's main column is... 40em.

And now you know why so many sites do this thing you hate.

(An em, if you are not familiar with it, is a typographical measurement equal to "the width of an M in this font".)