Has anyone else had problems recently with the look of the forum itself changing ? my look is weirdly different but still usable except I can't use smiley icons.
I haven't experienced that.
It sounds like a browser caching issue.
Does it only happen in one browser?
If it looks fine in a different browser, flushing the browser cache of the affected one may help (just don't flush the passwords and form data ... only the cache ... and the history if you so desire, although that's less consequential). After logging out, flushing the cache, and closing all the browser windows, I suspect the forum will look normal again after navigating back here.
Good luck.