37signals’s Redesigned Forums

The “standard” template for web-based forum design is just awful — just dozens and dozens of boxes for something that shouldn’t be boxy at all. 37signals’s new forum design is a good rethinking of the form. It’s just lists: a list of forums, a list of topics within each forum, and a list of posts within each topic.

It’s an apt pairing of form and function. These things are lists, and now that’s what they look like. This simple list-based visual style is the default for Beast, the new Rails-based forum software 37signals started using back in March for Highrise.

It’s a little funny, in that Beast’s own forums look more like 37signals’s signature style.

★ Monday, 7 May 2007