Improving the Showcase Header - Suggestions?

Hey hey everyone,
I’m planning on revamping the header area on the forums a bit.

Anyway, from PMs and past thread suggestions, these are what I have received:

1.) Make the showcase header entries random.

2.) Ensure showcase header entries are taken from a larger pool of entries and randomly display the 7 or 8 entries.

3.) Separate the ads from the header entries while not taking up a lot of vertical space. In other words, something a lot more compact than cgtalk.com.

4.) Current hover text looks cheesy with the transparent backgrounds.

Is there anything else that I should add to my list? I’m planning on spending a few days on this before taking a break to work on other issues with the site.

Thanks!
Kirupa :thumb: