Hey guys,
I am happy to say the new dark theme has been released on the site! For the most part, the theme is mainly an aesthetic upgrade, though some new features did creep in on the latest Vbulletin upgrade.
NEW FEATURES:
What’s New Section - is your activity feed stream to the site. This reports all the latest activity on the forum and should auto-refresh if you have it sitting there on your webpage. This combined with the "Today’s posts feature can help you keep up-to-date on the site.
Blender Meetups has been added to the man navigation. Bart from Blendernation has really helped push this off the ground and we are hoping it promote it here a bit as well. Be sure to check out your local area for any Blender Meetups, or create your own!
Groups are now available to uses on the site. This is for a trial period to see how you guys are digging the idea of them and if they fit well with the site. They do offer a great idea for team or student collaboration on a project.
Featured Image row is now there! This section will feature outstanding Gallery work, Blender news topics or anything worth featuring basically. Latest features will show up on the left and then migrate to the right. Currently these will be picked up by the BA Moderator team to feature, though if you think something is worth featuring be sure to “Report the post” to the BA crew for review.
CG Cookie Network Widget is in place. Blender Artists stands on it’s own and the other CGC networks featured up there pair well with Blender.
Misc: There is now an auto-save function when typing out your message, some Facebook integration for liking threads,
I hope you enjoy the new theme with the site and further development is continuing to clean-up any lingering items.
With the theme upgrade if you find anything which is missing or broken, be sure to let me know at [email protected] and I will do my best to fix it up. There are bound to be a few things that slipped through. 
Thank you again for hanging on the site!
Cheers,
W
F.A.Q.
Q: Is there a light Theme in development?
A: Yes, following the dark theme launch, the focus will be to clean-up any bugs and then move to designing the Light theme to give two custom options to view the site.
Q: Any other new features you are working on?
A: Nothing in particular, though I am really jazzed for Vbulletin 5. Not sure how that will/when be integrated here but give it a look and some great features there. http://www.vbulletin.com/
Q: I found a CSS or bug on the new theme, what should I do?
A: If you see anything off that I may have missed, please just send a support ticket into [email protected] or comment below and I will do my best to fix it up!
Q: The dark theme makes me feel to evil, can I go back to the old theme?
A: Sure, until we fully get the light theme developed, you may set your theme preference on the lower left menu on the footer.
Q: Ah man you guys still have ads?
A: I know, they are a necessary evil to help bring in some funds to maintain the site.
