i was tempted to remove the horde icon at some ponit (the race icon making it redondent) but then I stumble across sigs that had Alliance and Horde toons, and those icons reallyclash nicely.
I'll have to try it both ways i think, see how it goes.

Using the class text color instead of the class icon is a nice idea, i'll give that a try and see how it goes.
THe only problem i foresee is indeed the background color not working well with some colors (priest comes to mind) but i'll try and find away around that.
Dual spec icons might be possible too, i'll see if i can manage it, but they might be a bit small.

thanks for the feedback