After browsing forums for a while, you notice one main feature that is always the same, everywhere. The postbit.

It's really dull, consists of nearly the same data everywhere, but some places show on top of post, others to the side. I haven't spotted a unique postbit ever in my browsing history.

I've set out on a mission to design a usable, but unique postbit design... and I've come up with nothing. So, anyone got any ideas?

I've set out on a mission to design a usable, but unique postbit design... and I've come up with nothing. So, anyone got any ideas?I think the key issue with the post bit is, not visual interest, but readability. Most postbits I see have too much crap--Huge avatars, karma-point charts, user-rank badges, 640-by-480-pixel signatures, etc. All of this gets in the way of the purpose of the postbit--the content of the post.

I think the postbit needs visual structure--it should be easy to pick out the author of the post, the date it was created, the content, and iodentify where one post ends and another begins. Because I live in a threaded world, I also like to have a link to the parent message.

I'll post a mockup of what I've been thinking about doing in a bit, very minimal, but with all details available on request.

Right here it is. second image is what you would get when you click on the avatar or the username. I felt avatar was required as I tend to use them instead of the persons username to identify the poster

ignore my awesome colouring scheme, decided to not use my normal bright red blue and purple colours that i normally use for layout mock ups :D

This still doesn't satisfy my unique wantings, but it does satisfy the not lots of crap thing that I want :P half way

That looks really nice :)

This still doesn't satisfy my unique wantings, but it does satisfy the not lots of crap thing that I want half wayI like the "not lots of crap thing." Here's one that I did a while back--I feel about it the way you feel about yours.

BTW-- The info on the right (next to the avatar) is only visible to forum staff.

looks like an email. but definitely it isn't messy

I've tried to come up with some in the past, too. But they usually just don't work as well. I think usability is more important then uniqueness.

Hope you come up with something, I'd welcome a change as well.

Okay, you started me thinking.

I wanted to build a thread display and postbit specifically for an article thread. Here is my first cut at it:

Grab1 shows the first post in the thread. I need to build some vbCodes to give me more formatting options for the body of the article. I put the attachments in the right-hand column accidentally--but decided I liked them there.

Grab 2 shows how I moved all of the info about the user into the popup--Good idea, Disjunto!

Grab 3 shows the display of the replies. I don't know if I like the look/placement of the "Add Your Comment" link.

What do you all think?

I'd get rid of the "add your comment link" You already have a "post Reply" button, so it's kinda unneeded. If you want to keep it though I'd recommend placing it under the article on the right hand side in a single line format. Also, looking at your design, try to see if you can add a shadow to the comment and article boxes. It already looks slightly elevated from the broad. If you are able to add the shadows than it'll give the page depth, and it will in all, be unique. Keep up the good Work.