Some people and I have posted a couple improvements in the following thread:
https://openacs.org/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00026j&topic_id=11&topic=OpenACS
I checked out some features of photo.net lately and I think that the drop-down menues and the structuring as a whole are quite nice.
Additionally we should have a well visible link to /shared/whos-online.tcl and an activated chat room, although the openacs-chat is not quite optimal.
Whos-online will make even more sence with a future jabber-integration I believe.