Wow, it's really different. *laughs*
I'll have to poke around awhile, but my first impression is that it's incredibly *busy*...i.e., full of lots of stuff that might actually obscure the meat of the forum? Dunno, give me time. 
I like the idea of a recent activity link, but would find it much more useful if there was a way to only get new posts in that link, not who just joined, and *especially* not who "likes" something.
Good luck with it Deb...I'll definitely have to get used to it!