BuddyPress.org

I agree that it’s a big step forward from a usability point of view. The two column side navigation confuses everyone at first (and second) glance. And constancy is critical in user interface design. Floating the admin bar is a great usability idea too. And the “New Post” and “New Group” buttons on those directory pages is absolutely brilliant. That’s a huge leap in usability. People are always very confused with the current Forums directory page. So that’s all great! Very good work.

What I’m really missing though is all the beautiful little details from the previous design. Those ‘speech bubble’ arrows on the title backgrounds (although they were somewhat overused). The nice gradients on the title backgrounds. The beautiful (and useful) little icons in the navigation. The beautiful rounded buttons with their little arrows, icons, checkmarks and busy cursors. And just the overall brand feel of the yellow orange and grey. It really was (and still is) a beautiful design. But generic makes more sense for a default theme. Like the Kubrik theme for WordPress. And easier theme development is always good. I also recognize the the new theme is a work in progress.