Sure, that is another option. But your code still looks confusing.

Personally I mostly use indent to read code, so requiring that the indent matches the semantic nesting makes it much easier for me to understand.

Looks confusing to who? Another coder? Then they have issues.

I get the original was talking about client facing config files. I'd rather see INI style config files personally.

If you're writing ugly code, braces or spaces won't save you. Just don't write ugly code.* Write it like the next person to view your code is an axe murder that knows where you live, so don't make them mad. You can minify later.

*I'm ignoring Perl, as it's always ugly