The subdomains are hidden, so that less people get fooled. Most people will only look at the left-most part of the URL to see what website they are on, and hackers take advantage of that.
I would hate that "feature" in my browser. I like being able to see the subdomains, and my screen is big enough to highlight an unexpectedly long URL. It could be useful on small mobile screens though.
Me too. I don't like things being hidden in an effort to make them "simpler". It's part of why error messages are so useless these days.
I forgot to include this part, but when hovering over the link, the box should make the main domain name in bold text, for damn's sake.
I like that idea!