Returning Gammablogians may have noticed the new site navigation icons. Above from left to right: Photos, Video, Architecture, Street Art, Politics, East Village, New York City Guide, and All the Categories on the GammaBlog. They all have pop-up titles when moused-over. I’m happy graphically with the buttons, but is it fun for me and confusion for you?
I’m not really sure what sort of simple image could convey “East Village.” I almost went with the letters, EV. My other thought was that damn cube, The Alamo. What I ended up trying to convey was a hi-rise looming over the village. 
I don’t know if anyone will get it at this pixel dimension. I was specifically thinking of Red Square’s balconies and The Most Holy Redeemer Church on East 3rd Street, though I left the cross out for fear of creating religious confusion.
The cat for Categories may be too precious. 
(update: I got rid of the cat in favor of a dropdown display of categories, not as cute but more useful).
The NYC Guide book 
should be redrawn for clarity at this size. I think the flag segment 
reads well to indicate Politics, at least for US readers.
I like the Street Art icon. I was thinking splashing paint and paste, 
the brush should at least convey something vaguely artistic to everyone. The cityscape as icon for Architecture works, 
but it could also mean many other things. The flash camera 
and the play-button TV screen 
should be pretty obvious. And like I said they all have pop-up titles.
I’ve gotten the comment that I am displaying my photos at sizes too large to view without scrolling. Are others bothered by this as well? I’m not much bothered by having to scroll up and down a photo, but side to side is annoying for sure. But clicking on the photos brings you to Flickr, where it displays a version no wider than 500 pixels, a solution to the problem of sorts. This link-back is required by Flickr, where the photos are hosted. I like Flickr, it’s a great community of photographers, but I know this link-back requirement creates confusion on the blog.
I chose this Blog Theme ( ) with no sidebars, so the full width of your screen is available for the photos. All the usual sidebar stuff, the Tag Cloud, Recent Comments and Posts, Links, Buzzflash Alerts etc. is at the bottom of the page.
Feedback is welcome.
