On the sample reply page you're demo-ing now I'd say the top of the page is probably clearer. The login information to the right of the banner seems to work, but looks a bit sparse. I wonder if there's room to put the text which says "The Moderator Board - View Posts" in that area as well, thus eliminating the second horizontal band which breaks up the continuity of the page?

I'm still unconvinced about the long vertical column to the right. Once past the head of the page we want people immersed in the story they're reading, not distracted by writer and link information.

Ideally, the page-viewer's thought processes should be:

"Okay, so that's what page I'm on. Nice banner."
"Okay, I can do whatever technical stuff I want before I read this story."
"Wow... great story."
"And look, here's the easy to find reply links. I'd better write a line."
"Now to see what everyone else has said."
"And now I really want to go back to the main PVB page to find more of this stuff."



I'm all for helping readers using atypical equipment to see the information, but not at the cost of a feature commonly used by the majority of posters. I use a regular web browser and I use the board regularly so I'm not keen to sacrifice useful functions for theoretical potential readers in other formats.

I had a conversation with a Marvel editor about Marvel's current approach to the Avengers not really being to my taste. He pointed at the increased sales figures for the New Avengers over material I had enjoyed better. I responded that although Marvel might be offering a more saleable product that meant nothing to me, except that the product they now produced wasn't one I would likely buy. They gained two new readers for now but they lost a long-time reader with brand loyalty - not always a smart business move. In other words, changes that make something more universally attractive may still not best serve the core audience, and individual members of that audience will still be unhappy that things they like have been sacrificed for the benefit of others.