Instead of a global icon for forums, I'd like the ability to assign a different icon to each forum on the main page and in inside of the forum itself.

The icon to the left of the forum name when looking at the frontpage.

Also, the text "when icon is partially transparent or greyed out this means there is no new posts or whatever" this text could just be moved to inside of each forum to represent which icon the forum has.

Would something like this work?

https://forums.xmbforum2.com/viewthread.php?tid=777055

Also, you could take it a step further by adding another column to the forums table. This way, you could use custom names/URL instead of relying on the $fid.png format.

If you'd rather do this let me know. I can generate some SQL to that end.