Apparently Lemmy copied the new reddit layout which shoves everything into the middle of the screen and wastes a massive amount of space. Even on the monitor I oriented vertically this is the case: the post I’m typing right now is using like 30% of the available screen real-estate and wasting the other 2/3rds.
My philosophy has always been that if reddit removed support for the old style, that’s when I’d stop using reddit. Switching to Lemmy is like switching to new reddit though.
I made an account, but I can’t really see using this as a replacement. I’d guess (but I might be wrong) that the type of people clinging to the old reddit style are also the most likely to do something like switch to Lemmy out of principle.
(I looked around and it doesn’t seem like there are any browser addons or userscripts to restyle it either.)
You might be right with desktop users, but I’m guessing now that lemmy is gaining traction more people will want to change the UI like you. For now, I bet a lot of the users are on mobile and it’s not difficult to be better than the official reddit app.
From what I understand, as long as it doesn’t stab you in the eyeball with a feces-encrusted nail it’s already managed to be better than the official app.