From carroll@theory.uchicago.edu Tue Jan 16 19:09:41 2001
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 19:05:26 -0600 (EST)
From: Sean Carroll <carroll@theory.uchicago.edu>
To: j-chernick@uchicago.edu
Cc: t-witten@uchicago.edu, covault@hep.uchicago.edu, mlaron@uchicago.edu
Subject: Re: PHYSICS FACULTY PHOTO UPDATE


Judy, I think it's a terrific improvement to have the faculty
photos up there.  Makes us look more human and all that.

I have two tiny suggestions that may be ignored at your or
the committee's discretion.  First, some of the small photos
on the research pages (the old ones, I think) have blue "link"
borders around them, while the newer ones don't.  I think
consistency would be good, and would probably lean toward 
eliminating the borders on all of them.

The second is less straightforward.  For faculty who are
cross-listed under different research pages, my preference would
be for every link to their name to take the user to that faculty
member's listing under that particular research page, even if
such listing is simply a pointer to a more appropriate page.
So, when I am looking at x_part.html, I would prefer it if the
link to Cronin (in "On this page") went to the statement below
on the same page, "See Prof. Cronin's entry under Experimental 
Astrophysics", rather than actually taking me to the x_astro
page directly.  This is because I don't like being bounced off
a page unless I intend to be.  Indeed, although the logic is
shakier, I would prefer the link to Cronin under "Experimental
Particles" in rd_pubs.html to also go to the tiny entry on
x_part.html.  Clearly this is something that others might 
disagree about, as it trades an extra click for the appearance
of greater control over where you are going.

While it's on my mind, I had an idea a while back about how to
make all the wonderful entries at the bottom of rd_pubs.html
nearly as prominent as those at the top.  Namely, to expand
the "On this page" to be both more visible and comprehensive.
Instead of one line with three entries, make it an honest outline:

  Theoretical Physics
    Astrophysics & Cosmology
    Condensed Matter
    Elementary Particle Physics
    General Relativity
  Experimental Physics
    Astrophysics
    Atomic and Chemical Physics
    Condensed Matter
    Elementary Particle Physics
    Nuclear Physics
  Applied Physics
    Beam Physics
    Energy Sources and Light Collection
    Ion and Electron Microscopy

That should all fit more-or-less one one page, making it more
immediately clear what the viewer's choices are.  What do you think?

Sean