I don't think I can vote as I don't know if any of those would matter that much to me.
Well, I can certainly understand that not everyone will consider these features as a major addition to the forum. However, we would really appreciate everyone's feedback. I'd ask that you please give the matter some more thought and try to make a choice.
I see no point in collapsing the categories. I always look at everything and (except for the archive which I hope to be able to spend some time with!) read any of the ones I've missed.
As I stated above, the point of collapsing categories is to allow the BoardIndex to download quicker. This in turn will save bandwidth, which is definitely an important issue on the forum. If there have been no new posts on any of the boards in an individual category (which you'll note in the example I've provided would be indicated by the no new posts icon), there's really no point in displaying the details for the boards in that particular category. Once I get around to correcting the display of the new posts icon for the Members' Gateway, being able to collapse that category would come in very handy because it's all but a certainty that new posts will not be made in the archive every day.
Also, the "Search New Posts" - the "new" indicators seem to work quite well, so it's easy to find all of the new items as it is. I suppose, on a long thread, it would be helpful not to have to wade through a lot of previously read items to find the new ones.
Exactly. Several people have mentioned that it would be nice if they didn't have to wade through several posts before they came across ones they haven't read yet in a particular topic. This feature would be an alternative to having to wade through those posts.