CBuzz UI Creep

There are an awful lot of things to love about this site - it's speedy, clean and reliable. However, I'm wondering if I'm the only one completely annoyed by the persistent UI (top navigation "toolbar", and now the thread title block).

I took a screenshot, and did some quick & dirty measurements, and found that a full 26% (!!!) of a page's real estate is dedicated to the above-mentioned UI items. I feel like I'm on my parents' PC, using IE with about 43 toolbars installed. The meaty content of the page - which is why I'm here in the first place - seems relegated to second class status.

Obviously, you have the stats to tell you whether or not this persistent UI improves traffic. If it does, fantastic! But why not keep persistent UI elements on the side(s) of the page? We do live in the age of the widescreen monitor, after all.

This was already being discussed in the next thread. The height of the forum nav will not eternally be that large in the end.