I find it interesting that both the blog entry and the picture of the physical book he's using are not justified but simply jagged right.
I've written books in both LaTeX and QuarkXPress and they were always using justification.
Actually most books in english / french are justified (and probably many other languages) are justified. Heck, I couldn't find a single book here not using justification and my oldest book (16th century!) is using justification!
As a matter of personal preference I find justification way easier on the eyes than justification (as long as hyphenation is done right) and I'm very thankful that most books out there are using justification.
Of course justification on the Web is hard, especially without hyphenation and even more so if you try to use lines with few characters.
But I find it a bit weird to "make a point" by taking of picture of a book which is jagged right when something like, say, 99% of the books out there are using justification.
I think your qualification "as long as hyphenation is done right" is the key here. I don't know of a single web browser that lets the user turn hyphenation on and off, and while CSS3 supports hyphenation, browser support is inconsistent. (Chrome is the most notable problem child here, oddly enough.)
And you could go farther and say "as long as justification is done right." All browsers that I've seen do justification use a very simple algorithm compared to LaTeX, Quark, and InDesign, and bad justification -- which tends to leave huge gaps of white space between words -- is harder to read than ragged right.
Personally, I think the best you can do reliably on the web right now is ragged right with CSS3 hyphenation enabled for elements that contain body text. But I wouldn't turn on full justification.
Ragged right may be rare, but that doesn't make it less optimal. Many argue the Betamax was superior to VHS, but Sony lost that battle.
The studies I've heard of discuss how ragged right is easier for reading and comprehension, due to the 100% consistent spacing between words.
On some sites the word-spacing is so jarring I find myself wanting to leave the page even while I'm trying to read what it says ... one of those situations where, if you notice it, it's because there's something wrong going on.
I've written books in both LaTeX and QuarkXPress and they were always using justification.
Actually most books in english / french are justified (and probably many other languages) are justified. Heck, I couldn't find a single book here not using justification and my oldest book (16th century!) is using justification!
As a matter of personal preference I find justification way easier on the eyes than justification (as long as hyphenation is done right) and I'm very thankful that most books out there are using justification.
Of course justification on the Web is hard, especially without hyphenation and even more so if you try to use lines with few characters.
But I find it a bit weird to "make a point" by taking of picture of a book which is jagged right when something like, say, 99% of the books out there are using justification.