Compass Rose
This section of the site describes the color scheme and other notation throughout the site and explains various ways to view the site. Given spatial and geographic metaphors used in discussing the World Wide Web, the appropriateness of the title "compass rose" arises from my desire to offer readers a sense of "which end is up." The sidebar on this page is actually a more abbreviated "Legend" to the site.
Links
Links at the top left of each page in the site in green text against the white background are primary links to the most important support information about the site, including the Abstract, a Table of Contents (which serves as a brief index as well), the summary conclusion of the project (titled "So What?"), Works Cited, and this page, Compass Rose.
Secondary links to content pages appear in white text on a black background. When a mouse runs over them they change to yellow text.
The page currently displayed on screen is highlighted, with black text against a green background.
Within the body of the site, in-text links are bold. Those that link to pages that are part of the Control Consensus Compromise site are green. When the mouse cursor passes over these links they change to a black background with yellow letters. Those that link to other sites and pages not authored by Matthew Duncan are blue. When the mouse cursor passes over these links they change to a black background with light blue letters.
In the header of the page there are links to the websites of my committee members, Dr. Gunkel, Dr. Chown, and Dr. Day. Dr. Gunkel's link is green to signify that he is the chair of the committee. The other two links are yellow. Just below the committee links are links to Northern Illinois University's website and the Department of Communication website. These are both red.
Text
The content of the site is presented in a single column in Arial (or related) font. On the left is a grey box that serves as a sidebar with a related quotation (serving as an epigraph) or an explanation of the content of the page.
Below this sidebar appear the following icons and text:
double
These links allow the reader to toggle the presentation of pages from one column of text to two columns of slightly smaller text. This feature relies on Javascript and cascading style sheets (CSS), as well as a cookie (set by the Javascript). This cookie maintains the column number preference from page to page within the site. (Note: The cookie does not work using the Apple browser Safari. Pages revert to single column using that browser, and the user must manually change the presentation mode back to double column. The Abstract page does not have alternate column views, and instead defaults to a three-column view.
Quotations throughout the text appear in Courier font, unless part of a sidebar.