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That's strange to hear, in my experience serif fonts are most definitely used more for body text (referring to paragraphs of text) on sites where legibility is a primary concern. Look at the websites of almost any well designed news outlet (Bloomberg, NYT, Guardian, Reuters, etc). I say this as someone who previously worked for a type foundry that has worked with major organisations on corporate type projects and now works as a web (and occasional book) designer/developer.

[vosper]

> Look at the websites of almost any well designed news outlet

Is it possible that some of this is news-site-specific, due to their heritage as print media, and an online design aesthetic that references (or harkens back to) that?

[string]

Yes definitely, this is what I understood by the cultural effect httpsterio was referring to. I still stand by my statement though, I've had far too many meetings discussing this exact topic.