neXus just wants it to look prettier

Hehe. Well as I said on MSN, I want to try that other theme Idea. Forums are just a cluster f**k compared to modern interface design. We can get some of that on the SamBB theme but....

To anyone who cares. I got a really very very modern design for forums, quite different and will be white grey. I plan to develop this at home and when its working in a version Nige may put it on here as an option for people to try.
Inspiration:




Android 3.0 email but used in a number of modern interfaces. I think it will work very well for forums and want to give it a try.

Instead of a "Thanked" system, how about a trader feedback?

Instead of a "chat" box, which would detract from the forum...how about integrating IRC?

I've just been introduced to a new forum feature implemented on the VillianRom forums that I think should be part of the bread and butter of any forum.

A twitter style mention notification system.
The concept is that if someone typed @Nimrod in a post, the forum would notify me that I've been mentioned in said post. Thus ensuring that I never miss any posts that I should be replying to.

(Not that anyone ever asks for my opinion, they just get it ) 

A quick look at the SMF mod's page didn't yield any fruit but then I'm not sure what to search for

Bold thread titles for threads with unread posts
I'm sure that on the old forum I could quickly see which threads in a forum had new posts as they were shown in bold in the forum listing. Would it be possible to replicate that here ?

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@Nexus,
There is a lot of wasted space in a Gmail style threaded conversation layout.
What (imo) would be great, is to utilise floating/collapsing bars for the structure navigation so that the entire screen can still be used to render the thread.

i.e.
Mouse over to left edge, floating bar (vertical orientation) with all forum titles appears.
Mouse over title, additional (child) bar appears with sub-forums titles at top and then thread titles below.
Recursive handling of mouse over sub-forums creating child bars...
Mouse click on thread hides all bars and shows thread.

But I'm too lazy to code it up, I'm happier using whatever is given to me

Otter layout forum is a personal project Idea that the guys may allow as an option, so ignore it really.

New skin is coming, I had a wedding to go to on the weekend and Im picking up where I left off.
100% humidity last couple of days here. It's nasty! Working on computer last night was not an option.

Would be nice if the post icons changed colour when a new posting was made...

They do, but working with nige on icons to get ones that fit the theme. Not easy as it looks like they may be custom because not to much works with the blue theme. A lot of standard modern UI elements I can't do because of the blue.
We got ideas though. Trying to do it as fast as possible.