I still use old reddit with RES. It's a bit ugly but perfectly functional. Tried the newer web versions a couple of times over the years and just hate the whole experience.
A couple of years ago I considered building a web client for Reddit but then the whole API thing happened.
Came here to say the same. Old Reddit is such a fantasticly dense, yet readable UI. It doesn't have too much whitespace, but there is enough so there's always room to click on nothing.
It is absolutely my preferred UI for consuming large amounts of information quickly.
The most egregious and unforgivable part of their failed redesign is that they forced adoption by redirecting and walling mobile visits and attacking third party apps.
And the sole motivation for the redesign? Monetize the content users created. More ads. Force you to see images automatically so ad images and videos show up with the “this is an ad” text below the scroll instead of needing to earn your interest and permission first.
As bad or worse than the shift to algo vs time based social content.
We used to have an even denser display, but they sadly got rid of it. It was the original reddit mobile interface (served as a webpage, not an app).
There is a screenshot on this blog post (by one of the guys who worked on it): https://pdx.su/blog/2023-04-06-rip-reddit-compact/