I find it very easy to read. The additional structure only helps. Why does anyone have a problem reading XML?

I have heard this again and again. But to me, well formed XML is incredibly easy to read and skim.

I don't feel the same ease with JSON or YAML though.

> I don't feel the same ease with JSON or YAML though.

I imagine the same is true for people that don’t like XML. There’s just many more people that find it easy to read JSON, even though there are a few that find it easy to read XML.

Yes! I find JSON so, so hard to read compared to XML. I thought I was the only one :-)

Your not alone: it's verboden requiring " around anything that is a string. Commas to separate array elements. It's a technical format without the technical foundation. It's the civil engineering equivalent of building the Golden Gate Bridge out of wooden beams as that is what you have, not what you need.

You are not alone.

This. It dances in front of the readers eyes, turning into unreadable gibberish. Json is how you would draw a datastructure on a chalkboard.

It's the same syntax shape as HTML and React's JSX, yet rarely do people complain about how "unreadable" they are?

HTML is not a configuration format. Tags are fine for text markup.