will any of the main templates like skin_Globle and foooter change much? Can I start designing my skin for my board I have 2 Questions.

1 How would I get the search in a custom sub minu an ecaple of what I plan on doing http://www.animeonline.net/forum.php
As you can see. I have text links along the top beside the image. seeing as IPB dosen't have the navbar meinu below How would I add the search dropdown to something like that.

2 Will a CSS chart be posted in how to change colors on the board?

I think you can add your java script menu from the old forum to new one.
:is_it_ok:

I can't imagine it would change dramatically, more than likely it would be more skin tweaks/additions as the features are fine tuned. So I would say it's safe to start creating your skin, as the changes would be managable.