Well, we just have to fill the white space with walls of text, then! ^^
The old design has served well, but was seven years since the last major re-design.
The way I see it, AO is an Internet forum aimed at Amiga enthusiasts, and not a forum for Amiga browsers.
The new forum software is excellent for that purpose, and as long as someone doesn't port the old Xoops software to Php5, then they have to live with it.