Thoughts on Student Webpages

Since it appears that the intsitutional inertia will imminently be overcome, and AREC students are apt to have personal web pages spaces in the near future, I'll throw a few of my thoughts into the open. I know that there has been discussion about possible templates. (The dean made some comments about a year and a half ago, but there has been no visible website redesign since--on that note, inductive change may be the way to go.) The format that UCSB uses seems to be a good one. Much as I hate to toot Harvard's horn (they seem to do well enough on their own), their format appears to be simple and adequate. I have not made an exhaustive search on the topic, nor do I intend to. However, there will clearly be variance in how much students want/need to post, and the key to an appropriate template is to dampen this variance. Obviously those who really want vast pages can (and likely already do), and an external link makes the most sense. However, a well-considered template is likely to give the department a professional appearance. It seems that this is a field where collective knowledge is apt to be far greater than individual--perhaps a survey of students is in order to solicit preferences?