I noticed that too, There use to be Three viewing options -- now apparently, there's just one default, I'm not too particularly fond of this only default viewing option...I preferred the second one, This left bar is kind of annoying to look at, and stale too, I didn't want to say anything or bring it up...because people always complain when a change or upgrade is implemented, And besides, it's Baron's site...he can do things as he see's fit or wishes,
I miss the classic view too. Staring at screens most of the day, those colours were pretty soothing to turn to. Hopefully it's temporary and when time permits we might have the options again.
Classic view is deprecated forever. It's a big enough pain to implement changes on one set of templates, but then to have to do it all over again for the classic template set is just way too much work since it's only used by a handful of users.
Isn't the only difference basically the presence of the sidebar or not? I do think the sidebar is visually annoying when trying to actually read a thread to be honest. It reduces focus.
I find the classic much easier on the eyes and easier to read, but I'm not leaving over it. I can adjust.