I like the new look! Not sure about the blank horizontal gray bar though.
That's a space for banner ads - if you have ad blocking, it'll be blank.
One thing that has always annoyed me is the highlighted forum posts on the right hand side of the Home page. If you click on one, I find it annoying that it doesn't take you to the first post, but to some random place down the thread, often the bottom post. Can it not be fixed that it opens at the top of the thread?
On the other hand, there may be a good reason for this that I can't figure out...
It links to the most recent posts, not the first post in most recently active topics. An easy (and often overlooked) way to access topics starting with the post after the last one you personally read (which is the first post, if you haven't read that thread) is from the upper right corner of the forum pages.
Well, I for one can't see the point of that - if it's a new thread, I want to read it from the top, not navigate all the way back. And "upper right corner" - darned if I can see what you're referring to - must be blind!
If you click on the subject of the thread, you'll be sent to first posting. If you click on the "NEW" icon, you'll be sent to your first unread posting.
Personally, I would really appreciate if CR could go away from red-on-black, due to the bad contrast makes it difficult for me to read the text (esp. the "Show unread posts since last visit" and "Show new replies to your posts" lines)