Cut labels are a perennial problem, but yeah it does manage to pack a lot more detail if that’s what you want. The Shortbread and OMT schemas are not really designed for map editors but map viewers.
I'm not sure I follow - most if not all OSM editors I know do not use tiles at all, but use "vector" XML format provided via OSM API 0.6 for on specified bbox? (and for bacground layer, they usually use some aerial raster - which is not vector for obvious reason)
(and I did not understand the OP to be talking about editors, but base www.openstreetmap.org "display only" website anyway?)
That depends on the type of editor. EveryDoor, a POI editor, for example does not. It uses the raster tiles.
My point for this though was simply that OSM mappers often want to see their edits reflected on the map in a somewhat timely manner, and the requirements for a style used by people who edit the map is much different from MOST users of maps. OSM Carto is a great style for mappers with its information density. It’s a terrible style to show to most end users consuming OSM data.
Sorry for my confusing use of “editor” 😅 I was using it to refer to both human map editors as well as software tools.