I've already commented extensively on my displeasure with the design, but most of the complaints I've seen are about the changes I actually approve of.
Right-aligned posting profiles
Take a look at this
sample topic I grabbed at random. When Reading from top to bottom, left to right, what's the first thing you see?
Ukrainian (UK) translation
New postPosted Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:57 am by Black_SN
Knowing who posted a topic is not a problem. Knowing if that person is a staff is also not a problem. I think the biggest problem is that it's simply unfamiliar. Hearing comments like "it's important to know who wrote a post", though, bring up more pressing concerns - while the author of a post is a factor, it's not the most important aspect to take into account when processing their message. Nor is their avatar, or their location, or any of the other information in the posting profile. Casuing people to think about a post, even for the split second they lean on the author's identity to tell them its worth like some kind of literate crutch, is a good idea and the point of "placing the emphasis on content".
And isn't anyone glad they corrected the mistake of placing the edit button at the bottom of the post?
Who Is Online, etc.
I believe the tendency to style this information in the same manner is visually misleading and has been a poor practice in forum layouts for a long time. I'm not sure I agree with the crowded, unorganized display we have currently, but I think it's a step in the right direction and breaks up the monotony of a page.
Overall, I hope the phpBB Team ignores any complaints about the new style that aren't strictly bug-related. Why? Ask yourself if you really want them wasting any time addressing your concerns with the default style, or would rather have them focusing on getting phpBB3
finished. The last thing we need for growth in this ommunity is to have phpBB.com release a default style that a lot of people like, so that we can see another million boards that look alike.
While I personally disagree (strongly, even vehemently) with what Tom and the phpBB Team have done within the narrow scope of a personal, aesthetic perspective, I believe that Prosilver is just what this community needs to shake off its complacency. It's the best decision since UTF-8 in making phpBB a better product.