(a companion piece to Displaying the Flag, a currently active thread in this forum)
I see some variations out there and, in my ignorance, find myself wondering what does and what does not constitute the Official Appearance of the American Flag.
OK, 50 white stars in a blue box (“union”, according to the above-cited thread) at upper left, 13 alternating red & white stripes top to bottom (starting & ending with red), that much I got.
The base of the blue “union” reaches to the bottom of the fourth red stripe? Seems consistently so wherever I look.
The greatest variation in flags I’ve seen is the horizontal reach of the union as a percent of the total horizontal, and the degree to which the flag in its entirety is wider than it is long. I see many flags that are essentially square, with the union’s right edge marking the 50% point; I see others that are much more rectangular, with the stripes to the right of the union appearing to take up more horizontal space than the union.
The stars in the union are consistent in basic shape (five points) and are arrayed the same (staggered from one row to the next; and although I haven’t counted them, they appear to be consistently the same number of rows and the same number of stars per row), but some flags seem to have really HUGE stars, so the points of the stars almost touch, while others have smaller stars (and therefore a higher percent of blue to the amount of white in the union area).
Are some of these variations the result of no particular definitional standard? Some of them departures from a definitional standard?
[Not that I’m contemplating pulling any down for standards noncompliance or anything]
I’ve only given it a quick glance, but it seems that they claim that laws governing the proportions of the US flag only apply to specific military uses; civilians are not bound by them.
The blue field is called a “canton” and should be generally be less than 1/4 of the entire flag (I’ve seen some refer to this as a “quarter”, but I’ve always be taught it was a canton). If the blue field is larger than the normal canton-size, especially stretched to the right, the flag does look ‘odd’ and out-of-proportion (at least to my eyes). According to this site, the US flag is officially 10:19 in proportion, but as flodnak beat me to it, it’s most likely a military thing.
Plus some more flag info here. [Warning - reeeeeeeaaaally slow loading]
As far as the star arrangements (from the latter site):
[li] Executive Order of President Taft dated June 24, 1912 - established proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of the stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, a single point of each star to be upward.[/li][li] Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated January 3, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in seven rows of seven stars each, staggered horizontally and vertically.[/li] Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated August 21, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizontally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.