The snippets option isn't very intuitive - it was a make-do cobbled together thing and I got used to using it myself and forgot it doesn't explain things. The intention is to have a settings page or little drop-down associated with the list of topics being shown. It may make sense to simply have show or hide - the levels are kind of arbitrary.
Don't forget that the software as it is now is just the foundation. Yes, you can't jump to arbitrary pages in the list of active topics but that is by design - whoever wants to go to page 1287? Why? What's on there? It's a mistake to use the behaviours from one site to dictate the design of another (and there are technical reasons why page-numbers are 'bad'). What people want to do is find things based on when or where it was posted, who posted it, what it contains.
A combination of filtering options is more useful than a list of page numbers - e.g. allow you to filter down the topics based on a time range, authors or search query (combined). The intention should be to help you find what you are looking for in the most efficient way possible - because people used to do that by going through pages doesn't mean it's the best way to do it or the way it needs to be done forever more.
Other views can help navigation - active topics is one, others would be 'things I've posted on' or 'topics I've said I'm interested in'. They are all on the todo list.
First off, as I posted a while back, I do not understand why you simply do not use v-bulletin. It's only about $15. per month, and is crazy-user friendly, and user- familiar. (eg. http://forum.calgarypuck.com/forumdisplay.php?f=34 )
vBulletin and similar packages are OK but c'mon, they look exactly the same as forum software used to look 15 years ago. Try and use it on a mobile phone or tablet. They are not user friendly, they are techy and cluttered - web design by developers for other developers. We need to move forward.
JWD was originally on Snitz forum: http://forum.snitz.com/forum/
2. The " >> " on most, if not all, forums and searchable sites means "go the last page. (The " > " means go the next page.)
There is already a first and last page link (page 1 and whatever the highest number page is). Even the prev / next are really superfluous and could be removed. Again, I'm not going to base the UI off some 15 year old dinosaur.
3. When submitting a post, most have the Save or Post button to the left, and the Cancel button to the right. (I have already cancelled posts instinctively.)
What are you talking about? There is no cancel button and the site warns you if you try to navigate away while authoring something. Having a cancel button for a form is a well known "no no" in terms of UI design - another example of why 15 year old forum design isn't a good thing to go off.
Ultimately, people will use a site if they find it understandable and enjoyable / friendly. This site is not perfect but I'm going to work on improving it as much as I can. I think it already stands up fairly well against software that has had many many more man hours spent on development over many more years.