I've been using Paint.NET for a few weeks now. Great program! I learned about it through Wikipedia (so don't knock Wikipedia ).
I just registered for the Paint.NET forums and I realized that there are 2 items that could make things a little easier on newbies.
1) Add a link back to the main Paint.NET site
I looked everywhere on the forum index page and couldn't find a link to the site anywhere. You never know when someone might need to go back to the main site. For example, I try to promote Paint.NET on other forums but sometimes I forget the exact URL. If I'm already on this forum, I could check the link to the main site and get the URL that way. It would be a simple matter to add the link, so I hope it gets added.
2) Post screenshots or links to screenshots of the board style options
I'm referring to the display options that can be set on our profile pages. It's nice that we can customize the display of the forums but the only way to tell what all the options look like is to reset the category and return to the forum index. With 10 options, it's a little cumbersome, especially for a newbie.
Couldn't there be a link next to the drop-down menu that leads to a page with thumbnails of each board style? Each of those thumbnails could be clickable to reveal a full-size image of the forum index in the various board style options. I don't think this would be that difficult to add either. Since I already cycled through all 10 options (and eventually selected the default subSilver), these thumbnails wouldn't help me, but they would help out other new users, or even long-time users who hadn't realized that they could change the board style.
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I hope this isn't all too long winded, but I thought these two minor additions would enhance the forums without too much work.