I understand that we are discussing readability here, with 'most readable' being the general consensus in the comments as being synonymous with 'better.'
That said, I see readability as something that is part of a greater equation. Take your last example of the Verge homepage. Often designs like this are intentionally designed to throw the viewer out of the flow of easy information consumption and disrupt your sense of hierarchy on the page. They are trying to get you to snack on different sections, not read left-right, top-bottom.
This sense of confusion also serves to hide the fact that they place the same article multiple times on the same page, in different contexts. This gives the reader the sense that there have a lot of content and a lot going on.
My point is that readablility is a sliding scale that can be used as a tool to varying effect.
That said, I see readability as something that is part of a greater equation. Take your last example of the Verge homepage. Often designs like this are intentionally designed to throw the viewer out of the flow of easy information consumption and disrupt your sense of hierarchy on the page. They are trying to get you to snack on different sections, not read left-right, top-bottom.
This sense of confusion also serves to hide the fact that they place the same article multiple times on the same page, in different contexts. This gives the reader the sense that there have a lot of content and a lot going on.
My point is that readablility is a sliding scale that can be used as a tool to varying effect.