i'd really div the surrounding stuff and only dive into tables when you do the ubbthreads stuff
Link to how it is put togetheryou'll be modifying a couple .tpls, but once you see how it works, it should be perty easy
My non active forum is an example of how it's done. ( hint, use firefox with firebug and view source or equive in chrome, opera.. )
the article i linked above also pointed to the garden site that did the same thing..
