>users have come to expect certain UI elements on any given web page and those things are far beyond "content".

Usually I visit pages to see if the content is worth my time. If the 'UI elements' somehow contribute to that content, great. That's rare.

Most pages I hit are hiding poor content in swathes of katchi-vatchi. Do I really care if the headline slides down that big photo? Am I really going to scan those glaring sidebars?

Once again I sigh and mouse-up to Firefox's 'Reader view' to cut through all that bandwidth-wasting crap.