IB Account Statements (aesthetics)

Discussion in 'Interactive Brokers' started by patsup, May 4, 2004.

  1. patsup

    patsup

    Hi.

    Is it just my browser (IE6) or has anyone else noticed that account statements for InteractiveBrokers since November 2003 have had weird (superfluous) spacing between lines in the "Total Cash Summary (Base Currency)" section.

    If you look at the HTML source code, you'll notice they use the <UL> tag (which means unordered list)... that's kind of silly to use an unordered list consisting of ONE item, for each line.
    See:
    http://www.faqs.org/docs/htmltut/_UL.html
    http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/wilbur/list/ul.html

    I sent them two emails to two different places. I know it's not an urgent deal but it was FINE the way they had it before October, 2003. It takes up so many lines now, AND it's improper use of HTML.

    Anyone else have an opinion on this?
     
  2. alanm

    alanm

    I mentioned it at the time too. IMHO, it does look unnecessarily weird.
     
  3. MR.NBBO

    MR.NBBO

    You gotta be kiddin'.

    Is THIS really worthy of its own thread??????

    While it may not be proper HTML geeking.....it does visually segregate each area for extra focus. In the end I could care less which they use.
     
  4. patsup

    patsup

    Of course. Beauty/aesthetics is the most important thing in trading.

    What? "visually segregate each area"? You mean space out the lines so you can't tell where they're supposed to be grouped? The numbers aren't even on the same line as its heading.

    It takes up 30 lines instead of 10 lines (I think more if you trade more than 1 currency). That's like a 200% extra unnecessary use of space.

    I admitted it wasn't "critical" but it would be nice if it was addressed eventually or if they didn't ignore their customers' requests, even a "that's not very high priority but thanks for pointing out how dumb we are"
    It seems so simple to just ask their "html-guy" to use the right tags.

    Fine, sorry for the stupid thread. I'm just upset with them so my ulterior motive is subliminal bashing their boobosity and customer service. I'm done.
     
  5. def

    def Sponsor

    I've got my monthly statement with 4 different currencies and it looks fine to me. Then again, my wife says seems to always question my taste. My point is, if you asked 10 people what they like/dislike about our account statements, is that you'll have 10 different answers. No offense but I do not believe this is an html issue, it is a design issue. Perhaps other considerations such as printing and/or cutting/pasting have been taken into account when the form was designed. In any event, this is an area that the help desk can't offer much assistance other than to pass your mail to the suggestion box.

    For my part, I'll pass on your comments to whom I believed designed the statements and see if they'd be willing to modify them to your liking.

    As long as we are making words up, may I ask: Is my comment boobacious? :D
     
  6. alanm

    alanm

    I think it would be "boobous" :)

    Here's an example of the "issue". The top box is the current layout and the bottom one is from a year ago. This double-spacing is repeated for each currency, taking up lots of space unnecessarily.
     
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  7. *Ending Settled Cash* looks better in the old one too. :D
     
  8. patsup

    patsup

    Hi thanks def, I appreciate it.

    your comment is boobalicious if you ask me, heh

    ok fine, the reason I say it is a "HTML" issue, is because the <UL> tag is designed for making a list.... in this case, you're (account-statement-designer) not making a list, because you're using <UL> for EACH LINE....

    previously, you used &nbsp ;s to do the spacings, maybe messy code, but it looked better... I included links to the <UL> FAQ/Help, because using <UL> seems like you're trying to make a list, but just using it incorrectly.

    I thought the point of using <UL> is to have <LI> elements (but you're not using <LI>). if you just want that extra spacing, just use <P>... but I think the extra spacing looks bad.

    I do like the seperation of "deposits/withdrawals" and "interest" as well as "commissions" that is great.

    alanm thank you for the image that helps clarify.

    plumlazy that's just "settled cash" that could just mean he's more fully invested now :)
     
  9. def

    def Sponsor

    done - should be changed as you suggested.
     
  10. alanm

    alanm

    Looks much better now. Thanks!
     
    #10     May 7, 2004