Usability for me is about speed and convenience--see my rendering[0] on the opposite end of the scale--all stories for the day loaded on one long page. Click the date heading for yesterday's. It was made for reading while commuting (with intermittent internet) years ago and I just kept using it on desktop.
I'm really good with frontend, but I only have quite limited design training. I can whip out a good non-dense layout pretty quickly.
On the other hand, pretty much every (good) information-dense layouts I ever worked with had to be properly designed by a professional.
Maybe the reason for that is just fashion, I'm constantly informed by what I see and it's easier to replicate, whereas something that "breaks the rules" needs a better professional.
Here here! But you're understating it.
Less information dense, and smaller fonts is an appalling use of type, and layout. These first principals about type, font, page layout, they are about readability, and scalability...
We have 600 years of printing, of typography to lean on. Thats 600 years of refinement on line length, spacing and size. The human eye didn't evolve in the last two decades all these lessons still apply!