I noticed that I always print any W3C TR in order to read it… and I discovered one reason: the lack of a (good) typographic style.

Basically the issues are:

  1. the text is too wide (if you shrink the window you have to scroll horizontally for tables and code samples)
  2. the line spacing is too small, and makes difficult to follow the line, especially on lists which sometimes have mixed fonts (usually monospaced and serif)
  3. there is no vertical rhythm, and this tires your eyes (read brain)

Fortunately these issues are addressed for the web in ‘The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web’:

  1. “Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory length of line for a single-​column page set in a serifed text face in a text size. The 66-​character line (counting both letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal. For multiple column work, a better average is 40 to 50 characters.” http://​webtypography​.net/​R​h​y​t​h​m​_​a​n​d​_​P​r​o​p​o​r​t​i​o​n​/​H​o​r​i​z​o​n​t​a​l​_​M​o​t​i​o​n​/​2​.​1​.2/
  2. “Vertical space is metered in a different way [to horizontal space]. You must choose not only the overall measure — the depth of the column or page — but also a basic rhythmical unit. This unit is the leading, which is the distance from one baseline to the next.” http://​webtypography​.net/​R​h​y​t​h​m​_​a​n​d​_​P​r​o​p​o​r​t​i​o​n​/​V​e​r​t​i​c​a​l​_​M​o​t​i​o​n​/​2​.​2​.1/
  3. “Headings, subheads, block quotations, footnotes, illustrations, captions and other intrusions into the text create syncopations and variations against the base rhythm of regularly leaded lines. These variations can and should add life to the page, but the main text should also return after each variation precisely on beat and in phase.” http://​webtypography​.net/​R​h​y​t​h​m​_​a​n​d​_​P​r​o​p​o​r​t​i​o​n​/​V​e​r​t​i​c​a​l​_​M​o​t​i​o​n​/​2​.​2​.2/

So I generated with the Geoffrey Grosenbach’s ‘Baseline Rhythm Calculator’ a proper CSS file, tweaked it a bit according to the above rules and made a bookmarklet to insert it when you need to make a report screen
readable, drag this link Readable TR onto your bookmark toolbar. Enjoy!