This might sound crazy, but how about putting the search field at the bottom left of the page, rather than the top? The top could have a “#bottom” link to the search field. Often, one likes to peruse through the thread headings before searching. Also, a “#top” link at the bottom right would help in navigation. (See:
manji theme.)
You might consider making the width of the gray”CODE IS POETRY…” footer the same size as the white thread’s width. Having it wider, overlapping the “Support Forums” menu, looks awkward, IMHO. BTW, is there a reason that menu is still there, other than to make the threads thinner in width, contain the search field, and display each poster’s name?
Wouldn’t it be more asthetically pleasing to expand the width of the thread and do away with the menu altogether, perhaps placing posters’ names below or above the post and moving the search field to the bottom as I referenced before?