This overview of the Quilting Forum gives you a pretty good look at the layout of forum components. Individual message threads flow down the center of the page, arranged by topic folder. The yellow stars in front of discussions indicates there are messages in those discussions that you haven't read.
To the right you'll see your Control Center, which includes links to help you set your forum preferences, and under that you'll find links to the most active discussions. Beneath the active discussions list you'll find topic folders. Click on a folder to see all of the messages within it.
You can get a better view of this page by clicking through to the View Full-Size link that's located under the picture. Or better yet, go to the forum and look around.