Screenshot of sidebar widgets

This is a screenshot of the sidebar widgets I've been working on.

The side bar is a customized theming/setup of various modules - most are generally premade to be either "within" the content or stacked in separate blocks, so my goal was to streamline them. These items were selected to be on the sidebar so that they will be available to users while browsing later pages in a topic/thread. Below these widgets on the sidebar, there is a Related content listing (currently powered by Similar by Terms module, but will ultimately be powered by the same system that the site's search will use, Apache Solr - which is the same search system used by digg, cnet, etc). The sidebar also has a single-column version of the Featured and Latest posts blocks from the main forum listing, and will have a few google or sponsored ads in between one or two of the blocks.

Description:

• A custom made "Share this" button, which reveals a variety of social bookmarking icons/links when clicked (wrote a little basic jQuery and CSS to do this). Underlying module is Service Links. I liked the concept of a button that reveals a variety of social network icons, but didn't want to rely on a 3rd party service such as AddThis or ShareThis. The default Service links module is pretty bland (and no option to contain the links, so if you want to include many icons, they clutter up the page), so I decided to make this widget for it. I'm going to contribute this widget to Service links module for others to use as well, so it may be available in a future release. I may replace the social network icons with a bit "slicker" looking ones from a different icon library - these are just the ones that came with the module... but I'll possibly leave that until later (feel free to suggest an ideal icon pack that doesn't have overbearing license requirements - the very most I will give is a link on a "credits" sub-page, or would pay a minor sum).
• Print version and email icons/links, powered by Print module. This can produce PDF versions as well, though requires an add-on library - will consider down the line (particularly for facilitating PDF formatted/styled output of studio images or maybe even "collections" of artwork).
• AJAX rating widget, powered by VotingAPI and Fivestar module. Stars are gray initially, green when voted, and text updates dynamically to reflect the voting action. Ratings will help high quality posts to be featured on various most-popular/highest-rated lists throughout the site. The rating option only appears to registered users, though I may open it to anonymous visitors so long as there is some kind of system to help prevent abuse (need to look into it).
• Add bookmark area, includes an AJAX toggle link to add and remove the current page from a user's bookmark list of their favorite content on the site. Since in reality it happens very fast, the screenshot is showing a combination of the AJAX icon which appears briefly as the bookmark is added or removed, and the subsequent "Unbookmark" text of the link (think it should be Un-bookmark?). This is powered by Flag module. The bookmark option only appears to registered users.
• The Tags area lists the taxonomy free-tags that have been added to the content by the original author. As soon as a bug in it is fixed (it's still in beta), Community Tags module will facilitate any registered user also adding tags to a topic. When community tagging is added, there will be a small "Add tags" link similar in style to the Add bookmark link, which will toggle out an auto-complete field for entering tags. The tag listing is powered by Views. The same/single list of tags will cover a variety of types of content on the site, so tag listing pages will gather together related content from varying sources and types.

Feedback welcome. My checklist for completing the forum (and related functionality) is getting smaller and smaller. There are a few theming items, addition/customization of an abuse-handling module/method for Staff to use, and a bit of PHP in my custom module that I'm a bit stuck on and getting assistance (related to the icons/links such as Add new topic/etc, which change links depending on the page's context). I'll probably tackle the "initial" simple version of user profiles next (to be expanded later when the studio and other features are added). After that, probably will go for the user/forum data import. Then a simple version of the home page (since little of the content needed to fill it will be available yet), and after that I'll decide whether it's time to head for beta testing :D

Screenshot of the new forum

This is a screenshot of the new forum. As mentioned in the Updates discussion, I am open to a "light" level of feedback, but will hold off on any major changes until after the site is complete.

Neverside forum screenshot
(The image is very large, so you may need to click/zoom to see it at full size without the browser scaling it down)

This example is at max-width for higher resolution screens. The design also scales down to a min-width of 970px for lower resolution displays. There will be no 800x600 support. I couldn't quite fit the last bit of the page into the screenshot... it's just the end of the links container, followed by the copyright and text links of the primary pages of the site. Everything you see (other than the New Members block at the bottom which I haven't got to yet) is real/functioning dynamic data produced by the system.

The forum categories on the right will of course extend further down when they are all added. To the left under the Featured/Latest topics, there may be a block of ads, possibly followed by something along the lines of a grid of avatars/names of the most active members on the site (haven't decided about this yet, and may wait on it until a future update).

Back to work :)

Screenshots of a forum topic/thread

These are screenshots of a topic/thread on the new site, as well as various features and elements.

The first is a full-length screenshot of entire sample page (so the file is quite large, about 1MB):
http://www.davidnewkerk.com/files/img/forum-topic-p1.png

I've taken the advice given by James as well as various others into account, and (compared to the previous example) tried to improve the contrast in some problem areas such as the inactive tabs and the footer. I decided to add a subtle glow below the tabs/logo region of the header to enliven and warm up the colors a bit. In case anyone has a concern about the color of the inactive tabs - I have a version with brighter tabs, and tested it with everyone I could get to look at it... they all preferred the version shown in this example over the brighter inactive tabs, however I'm open to continuing to try additional versions.

The following two smaller images are from page 2 of the topic. At the top left of sub-pages of a topic, there is a toggle link which causes the text of the initial post to be displayed for reference if desired:
http://www.davidnewkerk.com/files/img/forum-topic-p2.png
http://www.davidnewkerk.com/files/img/forum-topic-p2-toggle.png

A few other items worth pointing out/explaining:

• There is a "Mark as Answered" link in the left side of a topic's primary post. This option is visible to the original topic's creator and the staff/moderators, but not other users. When making a forum topic, a checkbox is available that lets you mark the topic as a question (as compared to random talk or whatever). When checked, the topic will additionally be included on a separate "Unanswered questions" listing, so those looking to help someone can browse the list (down the line I hope add a user points system to incentivize helping other people, the earned points being possible to exchange for... well I haven't got quite that far yet haha). Once a question has been answered, the user (or a moderator) can click the "Mark as Answered" link to toggle its status instantly with AJAX (or if clicked accidentally or if the question needs to be re-opened, clicking again reverses the change).
• I've added tabs for "Community" and "Groups". The Community page may be something I'll actually wait until post-release for, but down the line will be a central section bringing together the latest and best from all the various facets of the community, art, information, blogs, etc. This isn't a big priority for the moment. The Groups on the other hand will be part of the initial release. This will harness Organic Groups - I'll tell you more about this a bit later (in the mean time, there are some example links on the project's page to sites that use it).
• I've removed a few of the icons that were listed alongside "Post new topic" and the other links in the previous screenshot. Instead, I've decided to unify a collection of important links to provide quick access to the majority of a user's personal "stuff" on the site, making these links available at all times throughout the site, in the same place, at the top right of the screen. I've labeled this the User panel. This top right corner (and the menu below it, described below) is essentially meant to be "the" place where a user can look when the want to do something (such as create new content) or find something (bookmarked pages, friends, messages, etc). The remaining custom icons for Post new topic as well as one for posting a Poll have been remade with improved sharpness.
• Directly below the User panel, the "local menu tasks" appear. What shows here depends on the context and the permissions of the user. If a user is the creator of a given page, they may have an Edit option here. Depending on the type of page (e.g. besides forum topics) additional options may appear here. Moderators/admins will see Edit at all times, as well as a variety of other options such as a link to send the current topic into the Featured Discussions listing. For those familiar with Drupal and curious - I've done away with the View tab.
• I've changed the Search forum topics link to "Search discussions" since the link will slide out a form that searches both the forum as well as group discussions.
• The Post reply form includes buttons for easily inserting or wrapping selected text with HTML. Basic HTML tags are permitted and filtered, no more BBcode. Clicking some buttons opens a small modal dialog box for entering the required data, and other buttons (such as for Headings) toggle a clickable preview of the heading sizes. There is also a Preview button with which the post can be seen instantly in rendered HTML, to screen for accidental errors. I don't have time right now, but I'd like to spend a little more time down the line either finding or making some of the buttons better (since it's a bit mix-and-match right now... though the original buttons were horrendous haha).
• Avatars are 100x100px (larger images can be uploaded by the user, and will be scaled and cropped automatically if needed). There is also a selection of default avatars I made for people to choose from (more can be added as well). Old NS avatars won't be coming along to the new site, as most are significantly smaller than 100x100.
• There's a Private Message system, and a link below each user's avatar/name to send them a PM.
• The first post in a topic is highlighted in blue. Subsequent posts by the topic's author are also highlighted in the same way.
• Users can "Report" posts as abuse, spam, etc. Moderators are shown a list of flagged topics, comments, and users so they can act accordingly. See a small screenshot.

Anyhow, I hope you guys like it, and as always let me know your feedback and ideas.