It would seem that the optimal solution to both maintain readability and not waste screen space would be to start counting the characters from after the indentation.
Since indentation is stepped, you won't (often) be jumping massive horizontal distances.
I'm with you on the readability (of a single buffer) angle, but how does that "not waste screen space"? It makes it much harder for me to have multiple windows/buffers open side-by-side.
