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In his article "Designing Learn JavaScript’s course portal", Zell Liew chose a single column layout aligned closer to the left.
He defends his choice by explaining that it improves legibility. Unfortunately, he doesn't cite any sources to corroborate his claims.
Where can I find more information on this subject?
The reasoning they provide is incredibly weak leading me to believe there is no basis for this decision other than personal preference. I don't see what difference having the content awkwardly off to the left of the screen rather than centered has on being able to find the next line. Both layouts use left-aligned text which is the thing that actually helps legibility.
Personally I find the non-centered layout worse as it requires the user to turn their head when shown on larger/wider displays. It is really jarring on an ultrawide display as it appears unbalanced and leaves half the screen completely blank.
Aligning a column to the left has to do with Accessibility.
Left-aligned columns of text are easier to read for the users with disabilities like dyslexia as the uneven space between characters in the left and right-justified can be difficult to understand.
According to WCAG SC# 1.4.8
People with certain cognitive disabilities have problems reading text that is both left and right justified. The uneven spacing between words in fully justified text can cause "rivers of white" space to run down the page making reading difficult and in some cases impossible. Text justification can also cause words to be spaced closely together, so that it is difficult for them to locate word boundaries.
