Right now:
-"new messages" is the addition of a tiny paper in the folder. (low visibility = low importance)
-"popular thread" changes the colour of the whole folder from yellow to red (high visibility = high importance)
Personally, I find "new messages" to be a higher-priority-to-know-about than "popularity", although both are nice-to-know.
I would suggest changing the priority to this:
-"new messages" changes the colour of the whole folder from yellow to red (high visibility = high importance)
-"popular thread" adds a blue "+" sign to the centre of the folder (whether red or yellow).
-get rid of the little-paper-thing all together, it's just too small to add any significant visual difference
-the locked folders are nice, keep them and hopefully add the CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED when possible
Individually, this means:
Thread is open and has no recent unread messages.
-Currently: a yellow folder
-Suggestion: a yellow folder
Thread is open and has recent unread messages.
-Currently: a yellow folder with tiny red paper thing
-Suggestion: a red folder
Thread is open and very active, but has no unread messages.
-Currently: a red folder
-Suggestion: a yellow folder with a blue "+" sign in the centre of it.
Thread is open, very active, and has unread messages.
-Currently: a red folder with tiny red paper thing
-Suggestion: a red folder with a blue "+" sign in the centre of it.
I'm not very good at actual icon creation either. But I should be able to edit the icons you have into the ones I've described above if the suggestion is of any use. Let me know.
I also suggest removing the larger roman-building-type icons from the forum list and replace them with similar, smaller folder-type icons. I personally find those larger roman-buildings to be just a bit too distracting/busy.
In other words, congratulations on the big move! And welcome to all the whiny needs and desires! Whoo!!
Overall, I find the additions to dBoard 3.0 be more helpful then the losses. Especially if you plan on re-implementing most of those nice-to-have losses anyway. A lot of these comments remind me of the words of Stewie Griffin as the house is torn apart: "I don't like change..."