Minimalism reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- garyb122 · 2021-12-10 05:58 Anyone else think that most BBS software presents the end user with too many menu choices? Personally, if I get to a screen with twenty (or sometimes more) choices, I’m likely to get analysis paralysis and choose nothing. I’m working on my new BBS right now, and I’m trying to structure it so that there are no more than five menu choices per screen. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- trekcardhq · 2021-12-10 11:37 Ah, the Paradox of Abundance. I see this a lot with multicade arcade cabinets. You're less likely to play a 60-in-1 arcade cabinet than you are a cabinet that only has a single game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- codefenix · 2021-12-10 13:38 Interesting. Not sure how one minimalizes a menu without removing functions or moving them to other menus. If the latter, it could become a trade-off; either have fewer options on more menus, or fewer menus with more options. For example, Sync's default 'main' menu contains a submenu with message-based functions. On my BBS I could move those all to a separate 'message' menu to keep my 'main' menu looking tidy, but now I have a whole separate menu to manage. And that's just for messaging. If everything else I feel doesn't belong in 'main' gets moved to a new separate menu, then the pursuit of minimalism could become ironically unminimalistic. Personally I could see myself getting lost in menus if there are too many. But then again I can be a nitwit at times. Interested to see what you come up with. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ozznixon · 2021-12-10 23:06 That is why those of us who author bbs software support menus that the sysops can design themselves. Be it all on one or many submenus. Personally I like all on one, as I hate jumping into the message area then quit to main to jump into the file area then quit to main to check out the doors. We all have our own preferences. The cool part of bbsing! Keep up the good work! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dmine45 · 2021-12-10 23:14 Most BBSes allow you to change the menus to whatever you want. I've done it with Synchronet, it's rather easy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- viroiddfi · 2021-12-10 23:22 Some boards are really busy. Some boards use random characters as hot keys. Some people like full page ansi with light bars. Good thing about running your own board is that you get to mod it however you want. ...v ---------------------------------------------------------------------- viroiddfi · 2021-12-10 23:23 You get rid of shit no one uses, like oneliners and voting booths. ;) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- just4this · 2021-12-11 03:05 It's a balancing act — and it depends on your users. We used to have a green screen banking application and the tellers were interested in getting to the screen they wanted in as few keystrokes as possible. As a result, many screens had 20+ options on them but the result was that almost everything the teller wanted was only 2 or 3 keystrokes away and quickly accessed (after those keystrokes were learned). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- garyb122 · 2021-12-11 04:51 Exactly! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- crashj · 2021-12-21 23:12 That was one of my favorite parts of running Maximus BBS software when I was younger. It was just so simple, and got out of your way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximus_(BBS)#/media/File:Maximus- BBS-1.0.png ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nelgin · 2021-12-22 00:34 I've tried to keep End Of The Line BBS clear and uncluttered. The networked forums is probably the most cluttered because there's so many options, but the others have their own smaller menus. [https://pasteboard.co/D7zhwB707R1k.png](https://pasteboard.co/D7zhwB7 07R1k.png) ​ endofthelinebbs.com