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Here's are a suggestions to clean up the SF menus and admin backend:
Use WP 3.3's flyout menu system and ditch the ID #sfsidepanel on the admin backend. If that means dropping the icons on submenu items, I think that's still a worthwhile change. As it is now, the 165px of #sfsidepanel essentially duplicates the menu information already in the WP menu, except for the displayed sub-submenu (which using the flyout would fix). The duplication detracts from standard WP menus and pushes the user's focus 165px + from where it should be.
I also think the backend should adopt a cleaner (ie, more white-space) look. Some of the text and labels in the display sounds pretty similar and doesn't add new information, such as "Integration - Storage Locations" and "Set Storage Locations". The multiple labels produce multiple borders and other styling, all of which can be dropped. I think in 2012, cleaner is better.
Keep up the good work. SPF 5 is coming along very nicely.
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we have talked briefly about what we might do to the admin menus in a post 5.0 version... the flyouts do offer some possibilities, but I am not sure if they support multiple levels at this point which would be required to solely replace our accordion menus with... but we do plan further discussions and looking at options...
of course, too late for anything that drastic to get into 5.0...
thanks for the suggestion!
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I am pretty sure the flyouts do not support nested levels.
Speaking personally, while I would not necessarily disagree that our admin is due a visual overhaul at some stage soon, I do think that the WP UI would have to improve dramatically for me to feel 100% comfortable blindly following it. Aside from the improvements to table structures most of the standard form-based panels are a mess...
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I took a closer look, and you're right that the flyouts don't support nested menus. I'd give that up for a cleaner backend. Also, SPF's menu doesn't support what there is of the flyout now, since mousing over the Forums menu should display the submenu as a flyout and it doesn't.
Can I propose the following resolution for the new year? You guys have to set up a fund, and for every 1 px of border that you run over in the code and decide to keep, you must contribute 25 cents. You have a fondness for borders. 
I agree on too late for changing 5.0. I'm just throwing it out there; if you like it or others chime in, eventually you open a ticket and things move ahead, which is at it should be. I think 5.0 is going in a great direction, and I think if you can keep that up and make what a user has to install smaller, people will love you even more. I do think 5.0 would benefit from more whitespace and fewer borders all around. I am setting up a performance-oriented, managed WP service, and without a lot of work I managed to strip away a lot and get more white. It's still very much in "build out mode" as far as styling, but you can get a sense of what I am talking about here: http://www.wpperform.com/forums/. I think people would love a really simple theme similar to the way bbPress loooks.
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? The SP menu item in the WP menu DOES flyout for me just fine? Always has...?
So - will you be willing to share your theme when you have it all the way you would like it? We are seeking user contributions to themes, plugins etc after all...
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I really should pay more attention to these WP UI changes...maybe a little too much egg nog over the holidays.
You are right. SPFs flyouts work just fine. The flyouts only work with the item is closed, which makes sense.
As for sharing the theme, absolutely. I am mixing a couple of approaches: for speed, I am using a copy of your css template. My goal is to do away with the borders and use more CSS3 stuff. Once I have the look right, I will go back and re-do it in the new 5.0 approach. I hope to have the CSS only version done sooner, then will go back and do it right. If you think the CSS only version helps, I'll post a link once it's final, and if you like it, I will send it along.
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I think a minimalist theme would be great... I tend to not like them for my sites, but lots of folks certainly do... The borders are certainly me! 
Andy likes them less cluttered...
let us know how it goes...
Visit Cruise Talk Central and Mr Papa's World
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Will do. If you can see it, I'm sort of done with the quick and dirty stuff. All I have done is:
* strip away some borders
* remove the unread topics below the group view
* remove some stats info
* add a touch of CSS3
* space out the group view a little.
I have not tackled or made up my mind on:
* fonts and colors
* keeping or ditching the images; I did look for icons, even ones that would cost $, but I haven't seen any that are vibrant, clean & professional. Even among the premium ones, a lot of what I saw had a cartoon look to it, and for a business site, if that's all one can get, I'll take no image over that.
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i always have problems finding good icon sets. Mostly they are just too big or too hackneyed...
I did look at your forum page and thought it was taking shape nicely. And yes - we would be most keen to add it to the repository. Thanks.
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Thanks. Do you have a list of the SPF images that are displayed on the front end? If I get an image set, it would help me to know if I need 5 images or 25. They all would need to be in the same family. And I assuming that if you have an image like sp_GroupIcon.png, and I do my own image set, I would just put my image with that name in the folder, so that a user can switch themes without things breaking, right?
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