Tom, for me unread / changed show in bold and those Ive read in normal, and anything thats not new but updated has (updated) after it, does this not show for you?
For me, bolded titles only applies at the discussion level, once you get into a thread you can't tell which messages are new (but you used to). This seriously hampers the threaded view.
My suggestions (ranking not important, I just find the normal list hard to read):
- (If you haven't already considered/implemented this) cache the rankings and tag clouds and delay updating to periodic intervals to lessen load - I don't see these as particularly useful and they're unlikely to change rapidly. Once all performance issues are solidly resolved you could re-enable them.
- Move the Search and Advanced links in the header up to the same line as ID/log out/print to save some space. Alternately, move the giant image up, or use some of that white space in it for the search box to help link the search and the particular community in the user's mind. I'm not sure if the last suggestion would look too dense.
- Actually, aren't login/register/print/search actions, so shouldn't they be in the action box? This would also free up some space.
- What is "Advanced" - advanced search?
- Not strictly VMTN related, but there are two search boxes in the upper right. What does the top one do, search all of vmware.com? I could see someone searching the wrong box by mistake.
- Reword "Receive email notifications" to indicate that it's for this (thread|message|blog|etc), possibly shorten (e.g. "Watch this _____") with a tooltip explaining you'll get email notifications.
- On a subforum view (e.g. the last image), I dislike the background image behind the active thread (in this case, "VMware Workstation") - the side gradients clash with the hard top/bottom edges. I thnk a simple box background or a side hilight (like a ball or a bar) would work better.
- Put the right sidebar resources into a tab to avoid scattering information sources?
- I dislike the VMware ad on the right side - I'm not convinced it belongs at all, but if you decide to have it anyway, perhaps make it fit in better and make it more obviously a "Learn more about our nifty features!", e.g. link of the day. Possibly let registered users disable.
I agree with the things other people have said.
Offtopic: You could disable comments on the proposal document to make it more likely people will post here.
it is very dificult on nigh on imposible to see which posts are new or edited in a thread.
