The right hand side is actually the “Preview” box - useful for proof reading to check for spelling mistakes etc. additionally if you click on the double ended arrow in the top right hand corner of that box you can see your message in full page view - click on it again or press Esc on your keyboard to minimise it again.
Also if uploading photos you can see the photo itself rather than just the link in the composition box.
I really can’t see the point of that. Looking at the current page, on my screen, there’s a huge margin on the left, and another huge margin on the right with absolutely nothing at all in it. Then there’s all the “white space” between the entries. The end result of all this is that it’s all far too spread out.
Personally, from my editing experience over a long period, I’d like to see at least 50% less white space.
Many changes have been made to accommodate member’s preferences but there is a limit as to what can be achieved with making changes to the “design” element of the Discourse platform.
Discourse is one of the top 10 Community Forum software packages and is used by many organisations. Unfortunately the version of the phpBB platform that hosted the previous version of the forum was no longer being supported by it’s designers and was causing problems linking with the main Carers UK website so a change was not only necessary, but essential. CUK Administration researched a number of options and this was determined to be the best for both appearance and functionality.
To be honest @Bowlingbun the margins either side of the page and between messages don’t bother me at all - in fact, using a pc, I find it easier to read 
(although I do still have problems navigating and finding the moderator’s tools ! But I’m getting there 
I understand all that, but it doesn’t mean I like it! Just answering to OP’s question.
THis forum layout is terrible. Utterly poor layout, very user unfriendly. I shall not be posting here anymore until some logic is brought to bear and the old forum reinstalled.
Bye until then.
Hi Albert. Really sorry you feel that way but the old forum can’t be reinstalled as it had reached the point where its programmers stopped supporting it. Some elements weren’t working properly, too, probably because the board was designed around Windows XP, I guess. Yes, it was that old…
I get that you don’t like it. I’m not massively keen on some aspects of it myself. But it supports the “dark” mode, which means that it can be viewed with white text on a black background. While that takes some getting used to, it’s very useful for people using it at night as it’s less strain on the eyes. A lot of the features are the sort that go down well with people I think of as grandchild age, but may not be as popular with older adults - but it’s a matter of choice among several broadly similar packages, and this was the best available.