well, yes, you are right.
there is a little focus rectangle.
i use the 'unread posts' page to navigate through the forum - so i pretty much read everything that is posted. what happens is that i click on the small 'last post' icon on the right of the 'unread posts' page as i go through the posts. if i click 'back' on my browser (maxthon) after i've read one of the posts i'm still presented with the full list of posts on the 'unread posts' page.
because the 'highlight' rectangle is focused around the little 'last post' icon, it's difficult to spot. i can, of course, just click the 'unread posts' page at the top or bottom of the thread - which removes everything i've read from the 'unread posts' page list.
i haven't really got a problem with any of this. it's 'normality' for me. it would just be nicer if when i click my 'back' button i automatically went back to the 'unread posts' page with the content refreshed, i.e. read posts removed. sometimes it does this - like once every couple of months, so that's like once in every thousand clicks on the 'back' button. is that i problem with my browser or my service provider or the way the forum works - i don't know.
the nicer solution for me, which i think relates to requests made before for the forum, is that i could view the 'unread posts' page and then select multiple threads at a time that i don't want to read - say, by clicking on a check box, then click a button to remove those threads from the list. other areas of the forum work like this already but i'm assuming there is a reason this can't be implemented at the 'unread posts' page.
(i'd love to see something like the above in place but, honestly, i really don't mind how things work at the moment - it's just an ideal world kind of dream i have.)