Tom Werner has opened up the new Gravatar site to a public beta.  For the uninitiated a Gravatar is a Globally Recognised Avatar, i.e. an image that can be used anywhere you are.  So, for sites that implement it, if you comment on a blog, or post in a forum your Gravatar image will be used.

The site is completely new. It’s a much simpler site than previously, in fact as far as the users area is concerned, it’s really only one page: My Gravatars.  From this page you can add and remove email addresses and images.

If you already had one setup before, it will show that, otherwise after signing up, you can add a new one. 

The standard, free account only allows for one email and image.  There is also a paid service (US$10 / year) which gives you:

• Unlimited emails on your account (free accounts only get one)
• Unlimited gravatars on your account (free accounts only get one)
• Access to all future premium features for the duration of your subscription (and there will be plenty)!

There is also a page with a pretty comprehensive list of ways to implement the Gravatar API, including the WordPress Gravatar plugin that I use on this site.

It’s a good redesign.  Tom has avoided the recent trend towards gratuitously blinging up sites with clutter, and he’s used a nice AJAX interface that makes administering the Gravatar pretty smooth. If you haven’t before, I recommend you sign up now & get yourself gravatared.