How Detour works

What this is

Two things that usually exist separately. There is a button that sends you somewhere at random, which is fun for about four presses and then becomes a lottery. And there are long directories of links, which tell you a site exists but nothing about what opening it will cost you.

Detour is both, with the missing information added. Every one of the 1,306 entries records how long it takes to be worth it, whether it is safe to open at a desk, whether it needs sound and whether it works on a phone. You can press the button blind, or narrow it down first and then press it.

The four time bands

Instant

Good within five seconds of loading.

A minute

One quick round, then you can leave.

Coffee break

Five to fifteen minutes of proper attention.

Rabbit hole

Clear your evening. We warned you.

The 14 moods

Moods cut across topics — a calming site might be a game, a map or an archive. Each entry carries up to three.

• 🌀Mesmerising
• 😂Funny
• 🌊Calming
• 🧠Brainy
• 📼Nostalgic
• 🔧Useful
• 👽Weird
• ✨Beautiful
• 🏆Competitive
• 🕯️Cosy
• 🫥Unsettling
• 🐶Wholesome
• 🎪Chaotic
• 💡Clever

Questions

How does the random button decide where to send me?

It picks from whatever is left after your filters, weighted so that AltF originals come up somewhat more often than their share of the catalog. That weighting is operational rather than promotional: originals are the only entries we can guarantee are still online, load in under a second and carry no third-party tracking. External sites still make up the large majority of what the button serves.

Why does every site say how long it takes?

Because it is the only question that reliably changes whether a link was a good idea. A site that is brilliant over an evening is a bad answer for someone with ninety seconds. Every entry carries one of four time bands — instant, a minute, a coffee break, or a rabbit hole.

What do the four icons on each card mean?

Time to be worth it, whether it is safe to open at a desk, whether it needs sound, and whether it works on a phone. Those four facts are most of why somebody picks one link over another, and most directories make you click through to find them out.

Do you track which sites I open?

No. The random button remembers what it has already shown you so it does not repeat itself, and that list lives in your browser's session storage — it is never sent anywhere and it is gone when you close the tab.

How do you decide what gets in?

Two rules. It has to be worth somebody's time, and it has to still be online. Beyond that we favour the parts of the web made by people rather than by engagement targets: personal projects, one-page oddities, archives, and tools that are unreasonably good for free.