Edit: I should have clarified that I was on a 17" desktop monitor. I just loaded it on mobile, and it's fine and dandy on mobile.

But reading small white text on black background that's 100% width is nearly impossible to read.

Ironically a perfect thing to iterate on with your favorite coding agent. "make this page look better, present me 2 versions, I'll pick my favorite, and we'll iterate until I say stop"

Counterpoint - I like Dan's site. I think it fits his vibe and priorities, and I don't find it unreadable. I can always pick my browser width and font size with a couple keyboard touches, and I never have to fight his idea of how I should want to read it.

What exactly do you mean by "make it approachable"? Is the content-to-fluff ratio too high for you? This page is exactly what I want the majority of websites to look like: no fluff, no idiotic "modern design" trendchasing bullshit, just pure and simple content.

Also, perhaps you should learn how to make use of the user stylesheet feature of your browser, or ask an AI to tell you how...

"There's no reason for websites to be ugly anymore"

I don’t know why you got downvoted but you have a point. It looks as if OP doesn’t write for readership and his posts contents have similar characteristics of reckless abandon for conventional norms for a tech post. Too many cross references and link-backs to his own other articles that makes it really hard to follow the main thread of the essay.

You must not look at many academic websites.