<i>&gt; You want to maximise the density of information that is visible on the screen.</i><p>The technical term for this kind of response is &quot;rationalization&quot;. You&#x27;re justifying text after the fact, not describing why it was chosen in the first place. (Hint: because we didn&#x27;t have widely available, non-textual UIs back then is one possible reason.)<p>It may still be true, of course, but it&#x27;s definitely not &quot;truth&quot;.