NIU Home Page Requirements
James Dye (tg0jwd1@corn.cso.niu.edu)
Wed, 11 Oct 1995 13:38:16 -0500 (CDT)
I can appreciate the outrage which has greeted the recently promulgated
university WWW regulations, having been rather pleased at Jim Thomas'
recent flattering comments about the Department of Philosophy homepage.
But I realize that petty personal preferences must be subordinated to a
greater good (who am I to prefer Raphael to the elegant simplicity of the
new NIU logo?). Our administration, as usual, is at the very forefront of
the avant garde leading us to higher standards of aesthetic excellence
and institutional integrity. Rumor has it that the directors of the
Louvre had a problem similar to that facing our august overseers, in that
some tourists were erroneously reporting that they had viewed certain
paintings in the Picasso museum, or even (sacre bleu!) in the Centre
Pompidou, when they were in fact housed in the Louvre. Some even thought
they were in some other institution while viewing works in the Louvre!
The brilliant solution to this problem was exactly the same as that of
the NIU administration. A banner, with an outstanding line drawing of one
of the palace's towers, has been affixed across the top of every
painting, clearly identifying its location as the Louvre. I understand
there have been a few petty complaints because the banners obscure parts
of some works deemed aesthetically important by an insignificant minority
of finicky viewers and because the the banners, all printed in one size,
extend beyond the frames onto the adjacent wall in those instances where
painters perversely used non-standard formats for their works.
Only yesterday I recommended Aline Click's Webmasters page to a colleague as
an outstanding design, but alas, it is not banner-ready.
James Dye E-mail: jdye@niu.edu
Department of Philosophy Home: 815-756-4370
Northern Illinois University Office: 815-753-6410
DeKalb, IL 60115 Fax: 815-753-6302