well,pclinuxOs is using smf as their forum,and at the main page it shown some information,like "who's online" and "inbox/login/etc"
They are using some nice "rocket" theme,idk...
I think the best announcement way to go is integration with the forum,or a sepparate module,idk.Its up for them to decide,but what I'd love to see is the integration for the user, making the main page usefull will make the users check it more often. Nifty features such as:
*show latest 7-9 posts from the forum are 100% possible to achieve ,using the rss and a web rss reader.The ones at googlepages just suck,so i think we can find one that is GPL

or maybe...
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=8775.0*User panel integration with the forum: Just like pclinux Os' , we must find out what are they using and rip it off

Show number of users online/and usernames igf possible, show wether user is logged in and if so,show inbox messages. Hey they too are using SMF, im googling it out right now..
*Show latest packages from the repo- I am sure that this is possible to achieve,directly taking the uinformation f4rom the ftp of a repo(s). Wolvix has something like that. If not,its still possible to use the web rss-reader+ rss from the forum's section for the "new packages" (which would be a more dynamic choice )
*Rss for the ANNOUNCEMENTS is a must have. I will add Rss button for the announcements at the forum if not possible otherwise ,altho vec already has a mailing list.
*Link screenshots to TuxMachines
Just look at their website:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/its so simple and functional.I'd love to check it out each time before i log into the forum.

I am curently still working on the graphics. Also,i have a friend who can do the integration i think,that shows info on main page. I can ask him to help later.

I might have to move the site from googlepages server later on ,since there are some limitation there.
...and even if vec team doesnt want to use a new design,hey- this will make a great vector-fan site,bringing usefull information about the inner-works of the community at one place.
