why is this board so ugly and impossible to navigate?

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Really...there are so many smart and funny people here. I love lurking ILX, I really do.

..but man do I hate the format of this board.

Am I alone?

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

It works in every web browser and doesn't hurt my eyes. Also, lots of features.

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Monday, 7 July 2003 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

dnftt

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 7 July 2003 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

wha...? The format of this board is SO FUCKING GOOD! Easy easy easy to navigate! Not clogged by hideous fuckin' grafix! ilx0r roxx u r all gay!!! omg I am now gonna have nightmares abou the ilx0r format being changed!

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 02:57 (twenty-two years ago)

This board should win awards for how well designed (i.e., completely easy to navigate) it is. I think you need to talk specifics: what doesn't work? what's "ugly"?

[crosspost w/John]

― s woods, Monday, 7 July 2003 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Am I alone?

Yes. This board is almost pure HTML, you can do (almost) anything here that you can do in a web page.

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Monday, 7 July 2003 02:59 (twenty-two years ago)

yah, i dunno how you could possibly make things any simpler considering all the crap people post all day. it works really well. what's so hard about it? maybe you are just really dumb. hah! i'm drunk don't sue.

― scott seward, Monday, 7 July 2003 03:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Only without irksome colors, gifs, smilies, ads!!!

The threads are nice text without bothersome graphical interruptions!

I honestly cannot imagine what there is not to like about the format of this board.

(xpost)

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:02 (twenty-two years ago)

he could be referring to the archives which while somewhat organized are enormous and baffling and frightening. and given funny names by mark s.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:03 (twenty-two years ago)

It hurts my eyes. I also ain't that big a fan of the question and asnwer format. The posters are good, that's the important part.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Just figgered out what JBR was sayin'. God am I slow when there are NO CIGARETTES IN THE DAMNED HOUSE.

The Q and A format is what makes the threads interesting! Without it, you've just got another boring internet board! it's nice that you say we're interesting to read, but form = content for me a lot of the time, and certainly the format of ilx0r is a silent but welcome participant in the discussions.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

i have no time for silly names. i just search under "threads" or "messages". it's as easy as the easiest easy thing ever.

― scott seward, Monday, 7 July 2003 03:06 (twenty-two years ago)

My main complaint is that it hurts my eyes.

I should just quit my bitching.

I started a lame thread on X.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:06 (twenty-two years ago)

one thread a day, dude.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

But I mean...can you give an example of a board whose format doesn't hurt your eyes? Also, if it's the black-on-big-white-field thing that's doing you in, you know you can change that yourself in your browser prefs.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the YaBB boards...if you know any of those.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:09 (twenty-two years ago)

link please

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:10 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.yabbforum.com/community/

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Eww, no thanks. Not meant as an insult, but...threads have a nice way of flowing here, where you can get the impression you're actually listening to a conversation (or lots of people shouting at the same time). those blue box/white box type of board always remind me of Usenet - the opportunity for thoughts bleeding into each other is decreased if present at all, and who's gonna follow a whole long thread when it's broken up into pages like that? Here, things like the DMB thread are allowed to become giant sequoias instead of just a big grouping of matching things. ilx0r format, as I say & sincerely believer, enables the content you find on ilxor. The high-quality, nonsense-free, deeply critical and always thoughtful content that you find only on ilxor. [cue strings, marching band]

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:16 (twenty-two years ago)

on the other hand, the Apple Addict forums aren't bad, and are kinda like ilx0r only with colors.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:17 (twenty-two years ago)

also our board format has a trife

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:18 (twenty-two years ago)

(xpost) see that has color and icons that are supposed to mean things and that's all a big pain in the ass. also user portraits and sigs = lame lame lame.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

plus, ilm has a geir in the machine.

― scott seward, Monday, 7 July 2003 03:20 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, you really can't fuck with the quality here.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

g---ff f*ckin' OTMx1000 about user portratis and sigs. who wants to read somebody's lame-ass Gene Roddenbury quote every damn time they post? or watch once-meaningful Gandhi memes bleed out their content post by agonizing post?

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.ki.tng.de/~t-master/mod/87.jpg

― I mean come ON (gcannon), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I like this board format a lot. My one complaint though, is I'd prefer it if the threads were more like... I don't know how to explain it.

Like this website does it:

http://friends.portalofevil.com/fs.php?si=3

Where you see, in stead of everybody's complete post, you just more or less see the original post, and then a list of everybody who responded, and maybe their own title to their post, so you can choose what's worth reading, and arguments can split up into side arguments. It's more oganized.

― David Allen, Monday, 7 July 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm with J0hn. it's much more fun to figure out what Geir's or Trife's (or anyone else's) distinct qualities are from post to post. makes it feel more communal, somehow

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:24 (twenty-two years ago)

and when threads break up into subthreads, the format DOESN'T break it down for you: you have to engage critical reading skill, and follow the actual "threads" i.e. strands of thought! you can try to ignore the interloping posts/trolls/red herrings, but probably can't do so completely...and that's good and healthy! The responsibility for organization lies with the reader, not with the author/s!

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I like this format, but it is one continuous linear conversation. There's no nested threads and shit, which can lead to about three or four separate conversations going on in one thread without any delineation between them. That does lead to all kinds of interesting shit, though, so I wouldn't condemn it out of hand.

One example of other internet forums that seem to have balanced pretty much everything is Plastic. Although, having said that, it can be slow loading sometimes.

There's something egalitarian about ILM, though.

― David A. (Davant), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Ben, I'm sure if you stick with this board and post more, you'll find the format to be ideal - and I do web graphics and sites with heavy pictures and design; this place is actually a site for sore eyes so to speak.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

ilx = the city
other boards = the suburbs

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

ILX format = minimalist genius.

Anything else, namely boards with flashy colors/graphics = superfluous and obscene.

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

JBR, there's cans of worms, and then there's cases full of cans of worms, and then there's what you just said.

― J0hn "middle of Iowa" Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:31 (twenty-two years ago)

you mean JB "native New Yorker" R, J0hn

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:32 (twenty-two years ago)

turning off the computer and going outside = the country

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

you're from Iowa?

I live in Chicago now but I spent the first 18 years of my life just off I-380 between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City in rural Swisher, Iowa.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:34 (twenty-two years ago)

that's JB "I've learned most of what I know about global culture and the sociology of interpersonal relationships from riding the New York subways every day of the majority of my life" R

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

this is where j0hn distances himself from the midwest by saying he's from california.

i'm from iowa, though!

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Ben, does Juan/Damo post here, or just lurk like us?

And isn't it fuckt up that THE MOUNTAIN GOATS DUDE POSTS HERE OMG OMG

― Sam Bloch, Monday, 7 July 2003 03:39 (twenty-two years ago)

reprazent

― pella, ia 50219 (gcannon), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't try to distance myself from the midwest! I try to qualify my claiming midwest by admitting that I've only been here for eight years!

Sam, for the love of God, don't fucking do that, thanx

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:40 (twenty-two years ago)

You know he only lurks. It's Juan, I love the guy but he likes to bully more than anything else. I doubt he'd step to most people here.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:41 (twenty-two years ago)

j0hn have you been to pella yet?

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:42 (twenty-two years ago)

We should get his ass over here. It's kinda the same shit he tried to do at PFMS - it was so weak when he didn't bully. Just another indie kid.

Sorry about that John. I didn't mean to be offensive, and I don't plan on doing that sort of shit again.

― Sam Bloch, Monday, 7 July 2003 03:42 (twenty-two years ago)

"Nonsense-free"!?

My good sir, i have you know that the non-sequiturs thrown into this board by myself and others only strengthens our community, and our quality, to something that no end of folks can happily peruse while avoiding doing actual work and trying not to ponder possible delightful misfortunes that should befall various co-workers who either leave their damn cellphones on to ring loudly all day, or use an elevated parental voice to give orders to their crotchspawnlings who are at home setting fire to things while Mum works away to pay for diet pills.

with that said, normally I'd follow up by putting a picture of a rabbit with a pancake on his head here, but Photoisland is being bitchy tonight, so no Oolong for you.

Perhaps a portrait of Jandek would work in its stead?

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:43 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~tisue/jandek-scans/covers/thumb-0756.jpg

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:44 (twenty-two years ago)

ok j0hn that's cool then, I'm down with your north ames ass

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

by the way is the west street deli still open? god I miss that place

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

ah, Jandek...we hardly knew ye.

Pella is the bomb. We had to go there when our horse sleigh broke. Only the Amish could fix it.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 11 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I consider anything north of 13th and slightly south of it 'north ames', but then I guess I did live two houses away from ontario.

matos I live by east lake (in 'longfellow') and fuck no I cannot find any good sandwiches, I think there just aren't any in this city (the ones at cecil's in st paul are ok but pale in comparison to the west street deli in ames which is the standard by which all things are judged)

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:59 (twenty-two years ago)

by which I mean ten blocks from the river, 'east lake' is long

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:00 (twenty-two years ago)

What's the name of that taco place in Marshalltown? I stop there everytime I drive to Ames from CR and all points east.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:01 (twenty-two years ago)

that's too bad, Josh. I've always liked Big Mike's on Lyn-Lake myself. what do you require in a sandwich? maybe I can help you find something....

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:10 (twenty-two years ago)

or maybe I mean what's the west street deli got that others ain't?

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:10 (twenty-two years ago)

(and I apologize in advance if you've talked about this elsewhere)

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:13 (twenty-two years ago)

big mike's is ok but them and jimmy john's are basically the same to me, and they're chains.

the west street deli serves on fresh normal bread for one thing, not just sub rolls, but more importantly they make bigass sandwiches, bigger than any other ones I've had. and the owner makes great chili too!

also they gave me free food.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:17 (twenty-two years ago)

like not one day, for life

but I doubt they'll remember since I haven't been there in two years!

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:18 (twenty-two years ago)

they'll remember you, don't worry. it'll probably be awkward and weird--you'll go in all incognito like "oh they won't remember me" and then they'll shower you with free food, and you won't know quite how to deal with it, but hey--free food.

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:21 (twenty-two years ago)

and while I'm divining from upthread that you're anti-chains (and why not?), I must say Davanni's on Lake & Hennepin do make a pretty damn good(-sized, among other things) sandwich. if you're looking.

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not anti-chain, just don't like being confined to tired-ass chain food. I've never had a sandwich from a davanni's, but I must have spent hundreds of dollars at various ones by this point. at least the twin cities have good pizza places. (def. of good pizza place = they serve pizza)

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:28 (twenty-two years ago)

haha! I like Davanni's pizza pretty well but their sandwiches really do it for me. (there's also one on Hennepin and I think 11th downtown.) and yeah, Mpls does have pretty good pizza joints. I was majorly disappointed w/the corner pizza places in NYC, most of 'em were just really stale from sitting out too long. in Seattle, Pagliacci serves really good pizza, though I worked at one for five months in '96 and ate a ton of it while so doing, so maybe that indoctrination process has fucked my perception of it permanently.

this has nothing at all with the board's attractiveness and navigability, does it? oh well.

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:31 (twenty-two years ago)

my suggestion re: eye hurting would be to make a style sheet which pleases your eyes and use that. the white background is kind of a killer

― ron (ron), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Josh we gotta go to Dulono's sometime.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

try Pizza Shack, too, that was my favorite

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:41 (twenty-two years ago)

not on bluegrass night pls gff

there are actually four in the cities, matos, plus the suburbs and stuff. the one in st paul is a teen hangout = you can hear kids argue about linkin park while dining!

I ordered a pizza from pizza shack once and told my roommate's girlfriend and she was like 'someone got shot there!' etc. it was delivered by a toothless man who I am sure would have been wearing 'britches' if the year were 1850.

if this board despite its ugliness and impossibility of navigation had pizza, then that would be a mark in its favor. I am not sure if this would address the original poster's concerns.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:46 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, my friend Eric used to work at the Richfield one.

someone did get shot at Pizza Shack around the late 80s, I think, it's become legendary for that reason. but my family was ordering from them long before that happened--we lived out in Richfield and it took an hour to deliver, but we'd pay for it. who knows if they're still that good, though.

I am all for ILx pizza. and sandwiches.

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I've yet to have a fantastic sandwich here in Mpls.. well, Fat Lorenzo's isn't bad, but that's pretty far away from my neighborhood.. I don't get out there often. There's a lot of good Mexican food, though. Coming from Des Moines, it's a huge improvement. I like how this thread has turn into a Mpls restaurant review.

― Bobby D Gray (bedhead), Monday, 7 July 2003 05:30 (twenty-two years ago)

"why is the 35-94-55 interchange so ugly and impossible to navigate?"

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 7 July 2003 07:42 (twenty-two years ago)

This is why ILx is so great. A thread about board navigatibilty, turns into a discussion on the attractiveness of Jandek and Minneapolis pizza joints. Couldn't happen anywhere else.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 7 July 2003 07:55 (twenty-two years ago)

sure it could, if we did it somewhere else!

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I find Josh ugly and impossible to navigate.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

just lie back and leave the navigating to me, n.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 08:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Taking Sides: Council Bluffs vs Cedar Rapids

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 7 July 2003 09:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Before I read the rest of the thread: no, I think this board has a great format. It's simple. It's archived and searchable. The list of categories are sometimes a bit unhelpful, but I hardly rely on that much anyway.

― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 7 July 2003 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I think this board is real easy to use. Its ugliness (or the perception thereof) is intrinsically linked to the fact that you can access this board even from the most crappiest computer your employers could find 12 years ago.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 7 July 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

"dnftt"

stuff like this is the worst thing about ilm

― ssean, Monday, 7 July 2003 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

The system for how threads are archived/organized could be better, but given the sheer number of threads on ilx it would be a full time job to attempt to overhaul it now. Plus, categorizing threads seems to be a major drag on the server.

Still, I really don't see any board where the setup is better. That is, unless you're a fan of graphics and smileys and such.

― Nicole (Nicole), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I love the fact we have a category called "urine".

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

That's ILE. But ILM does have a cat called "alternate universe," which is sadly underused.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)

all my categories are underused: spread out and carry the word forth ppl

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 7 July 2003 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

back to the topic at hand - i think this messageboard is the best i have ever used in terms of interface. the first few days i was here i thought "this sucks" but now i've realized that it is unparalleled for it's understated elegance.

― j fail (cenotaph), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:39 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah gareth as if ames and council bluffs are even close!

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:10 (twenty-two years ago)

oh to him it's all around the block from each other

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

It's like The White Album of message boards. Simple. Elegant. Classic.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:18 (twenty-two years ago)

And inspiring hippies to massacre people.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 7 July 2003 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I will say that at first the sheer volume of messages seemed overwhelming to me, but I don't think that packaing them all up into sub-sections (and only being able to to get to them that way) would make things any less overwhelming. I like it as it is.

― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 7 July 2003 19:27 (twenty-two years ago)

needs more jandek

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 7 July 2003 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah i genuinely agree with everyone else,this board is a joy to use
if it hurts your eyes maybe its cause its so easy to spend a lot of time using it,and the staring at the computer screen is what's hurting you?

― robin (robin), Monday, 7 July 2003 22:37 (twenty-two years ago)

i haven't been addicted to any other message board in my life.
and this one is perfectly readable from my older computer at work. that way i can be working on one computer and read ILx on the other one :-)

― joan vich (joan vich), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 09:44 (twenty-two years ago)

"dnftt"
stuff like this is the worst thing about ilm

Anyone, lurker or newbie, who has never before posted one single thing and then barges onto the board to declare he hates the design = troll.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Really...there are so many smart and funny people here. I love lurking ILX, I really do.
..but man do I hate the format of this board.

it's annoying and it won't win him any friends, but it doesn't seem like trolling to me. "I love the layout here but really you are all cunts" would be!!

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

wait, i thought we WERE all cunts! did somebody change something and not tell me? Hell, i would just as soon go back to Livejournal...

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 13:30 (twenty-two years ago)

JBR, what are you on about - ben is being perfectly civil?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

nothing. forget i said anything.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

actually jody that one flew past me too.

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 17:14 (twenty-two years ago)

don't be so high school jody

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

haha!

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 21:25 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

i always love so see a thread anywhere about iowa. i may move away someday, but i will always reprazent ioway style.

i'm from cedar falls myself, one of the more un-college college towns i've ever seen (no record store! like, not even a borders or anything!), but a healthy ammount of hipster coffee shops, and the unfuckwithable Mohair Pear clothing/LP/piercing/anything place to offset that.

i'm down in the amazing iowa city now, really one of the best cities ever (sorry ames....or not). where else can you see Badlands on a bigscreen, hear a derelict talk about the evils of diet coke for 5 minutes, buy amazing loaves of 44 cent bread, and watch drunk American on parade all in one morning? we also housed the most life-changing band many of us will ever know in the late Ten Grand.

i also rep Grinnell, Holland, North Cedar, Guthrie Country, Dubuque, and Pella to the death, for real.

― colin mcelligatt, Saturday, 6 September 2003 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

If the board hurts your eyes, try changing your default font to something with serifs. Serifs are your eyes' little buddies.

This thread reminds me of a thread about Ron Rege on The Comics Journal message board, in which someone's main criticism of his artwork was, and I quote verbatim, "YOU HURT MY EYES!" Every time I see Ron, I make sure to bring that up as often as I possibly can.

― Jesse Fuchs (Jesse Fuchs), Monday, 8 September 2003 00:16 (twenty-two years ago)

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