Information density has been cratering over the past decade. Every redesign adds centimeters of whitespace around every element. I guess maybe it's touchscreen-motivated, but it sure does get tiresome on desktops.

I'm not even sure it improves touchscreen UX. Most touchscreen devices also have small screens, and I really hate viewing a mobile site that's 50% whitespace. If my screen is only 2x5 inches, I don't want any of it wasted with useless whitespace forcing me to zoom in to see anything. At this point, I'm starting to suspect that most designers actually don't have any clue what they are doing and the entire discipline is 90% following the latest trends.

> At this point, I'm starting to suspect that most designers actually don't have any clue what they are doing and the entire discipline is 90% following the latest trends.

You could say the same thing about the software developers who work on these websites.

You have different definition of "better" than does Twitter the business

What I mean is that I've been told by UI/UX experts that more whitespace is demonstrably better for users. I personally disagree for me, but I'll buy that I'm in the minority.

I don't mean to be pedantic here, but again, I think you have to further unpack how different parties interpret the word "better."

A UI/UX expert trying to drive new user engagement has a different definition of "better" than one trying to lengthen the average user-session length of "power users" above some usage threshold, for a random example. Or someone optimizing the new user sign-up flow.

If the goal is information density, then yes, whitespace can often be antithetical to that. If you are trying to make money with a website/app, increasing whitespace can be done for any of a myriad of reasons depending on business goals.

The idea of having one answer to "is whitespace better," and saying "experts say yes but I say no" is just such a myopic view of the world of interface design...