your proposed layout isn't bad, but I'm an engineer so change is tough. hackernews as it is feels like home, a new layout will take some to settle. btu thanks for the topcolor=ffffff suggestion. I like that topcolor change a lot, and the homepage still feels like home.
Yeah... I'm an engineer (a bit OCD too but who isn't these days?) and perfectly okay with change. I enjoy it rather... but I definitely prefer HN's current look over the OP's. The current font size is perfect as it is. I feel like larger fonts make sites look less professional... can't quite put my finger on why though. Maybe it's because larger fonts require more scrolling and is less efficient when I can read 12px (or even 11px) font without squinting just fine. There may also be a correlation (at least for me) with large fonts and say... children's books/sites and those with poor vision (typically the older generations who are mostly computer illiterate)... i.e., less professional and more casual.
