First, I have to say: this is an amazing forum implementation. I've been looking for something like this for a long time.

Nevertheless, I don't think it's quite ready for prime time. There are lots of little features that could be improved.

1. During installation, everything seems to default to 777 permissions, prompting my host to give me a 500 error. I believe it should properly be set to 755, but I had to manually do it.
2. If I want to embed an image in a post, I have to upload it from my computer - there is no option to link it from another site.
3. The default theme is great, but how do I customize it?
4. More plugins need to be developed - is there a plugin guide for developers? Will they be easy to install?
5. How about more options in the editor?

Those are just some of the items off the top of my head. I'm sure that as I start using the forum more, I'll have some additional thoughts.

But all that said, this is a really novel and great-looking forum! I expect great things in the future!

Thanks for your feedback .

During installation, everything seems to default to 777 permissions, prompting my host to give me a 500 error. I believe it should properly be set to 755, but I had to manually do it.

We will fix this in our next release.

If I want to embed an image in a post, I have to upload it from my computer - there is no option to link it from another site.

You can use BBcode or markdown for that . For eg.
[img] http://your_image_url.png [/img]
or
![ your_image_name] (http://your_image_url.png)

The default theme is great, but how do I customize it?

We will be adding documentation for creating themes; we will also be adding a easy to use theme customizer which will be available in the backend .
For now, you will have to directly edit the css styles or templates present in

codoforum/sites/default/themes/default/css
codoforum/sites/default/themes/default/templates

More plugins need to be developed - is there a plugin guide for developers? Will they be easy to install?

We have already added documentation on creating a simple "hello world" plugin:
http://codoforum.com/documentation/how-to-write-a-hello-world-plugin

We will be adding more documentation on plugin development soon .
Also, plugins are under active development, with the new plugin for private messaging that will be included in our next release .

How about more options in the editor?

We do not want to fill the editor with lot of options , as we aim for content first and KISS principles .
Any extra options that are required by the users will be provided with the help of plugins thus avoiding any unnecessary clutter .
If you have any suggestions for editor options that you think must be included in the core rather than in the plugins, let us know .

Codoforum is under active development, so we release a new version every 15 days , so stay tuned for updates.

Thanks for the reply. Keep up the good work!