State of the Art Review on Hypermedia Issues And Applications  

Hypertext systems are emerging as a new class of complex information management systems. These systems allow people to create, annotate, link together, and share information from a variety of media such as text, graphics, audio, video, animation, and programs. Hypertext systems provide a non-sequential and entirely new method of accessing information unlike traditional information systems which are primarily sequential in nature. They provide flexible access to information by incorporating the notions of navigation, annotation, and tailored presentation [Bieber, 1993]. There are a number of research issues related to the design, development, and application of hypertext systems. This paper is a review of literature related to all these issues. This chapter is an introduction to hypertext, some existing systems, and some pioneers who have contributed to the definition and understanding of many aspects related to hypertext. Chapter 2 discusses issues related to hypertext implementation. Chapter 3 is on database requirements for hypertext systems. Chapter 4 discusses user interface issues and evaluation of hypertext. Chapter 5 is on information retrieval in hypertext systems. Chapter 6 discusses research efforts in the area of integrating hypertext with the work environment. Chapter 7 discusses some of the applications for which the hypertext paradigm is most suitable. Chapter 8 discusses a systematic approach to user interface design for a hyprtext system. It is an attempt to apply some of the ideas discussed in earlier chapters. Chapter 9 is a summary of all research issues and sets some directions for further work.

Balasubramanian, V. E-Papyrus.com (1994). Books>Information Design>Hypertext

Strategic Linking Techniques

Utilize hypertext to maximize the interactive experience of your site. Above all else, hypertext should be used to help your users find what they want, when they want it. You want your users to be able to get more information at just the right time and place in your pages. This isn't easy. Poor linking is a major problem on almost all Web sites.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>Hypertext

Studies in Hypertext

This Web site is a collaborative effort by students in Studies In Hypertext — a Technical Writing class offered by the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. The following pages discuss the political, theoretical, and technical issues of the World Wide Web and how these issues relate to the practices of communication, learning, and information retrieval in our culture.

University of Central Florida. Resources>Information Design>Hypertext

Studies in Hypertext: the Conversion of Traditional Texts into Web Sites  

The production of a web page has become a common assignment in a number of university classrooms, but there has yet to be established a pedagogy for the generation of large group-generated web sites that replicate the methods found in industry. In Studies in Hypertext, a course offered to technical communication students at the University of Central Florida, such a pedagogy is being shaped. In this course, students with little or no experience in web site generation work their way through a series of written and small web site construction tasks to eventually produce one complex and competently-integrated web site.

Applen, J.D. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Hypertext

Teaching Hypertext Composition    

Composing hypertext documents can be an enriching path into the world of technical communication. In learning to produce hypertext, students are introduced to an important form of written composition that encompasses not only text generation, but also visual communication and information architecture. In this article, I provide a rationale for teaching hypertext composition and then some specific curricular suggestions in two parts, one for teaching beginners, and one for teaching more advanced students.

Gordon, Jay L. Technical Communication Quarterly (2005). Articles>Writing>Hypertext>Education

The Cultural Metamorphosis of the Internet. Hypertext and Publishing in the 'Digital Culture' (Notes Regarding Communicative Convergence)  

Focuses on the cultural significance of hypertext and online publishing possibilities for culture, education, research and communication.

Graupera Sanz, Marta. Tower of Babel. Articles>Publishing>Cyberculture>Hypertext

Three HyperCard Stacks on CD-ROM: A Review

A review of the Macintosh CD-ROM versions of The Manhole, the Time Table of History, and the Electronic Whole Earth Catalog with emphasis on their usability and their support of hypertext navigation. Based on the discussion of these hypertexts the following general principles are found to be useful for analyzing hypertext user interfaces: Navigational dimensions and their explicitness, directionality and literalness, landmarks, locational orientation, history lists, and backtrack mechanisms.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1989). Articles>Usability>Software>Hypertext

Traffic from Referring Sites

The amount of traffic referred to a site from other sites seems to follow a Zipf distribution quite closely. The figure shows the distribution of traffic referred to useit.com from other websites during the first three months of 1997. Each dot on the figure represents a URL from which one or more users followed a link to useit.com. Even though the data is not a perfect match with the Zipf curve, it does seem to be the case that the referrals are reasonably close to the Zipf curve. In other words, there are a few other sites that direct a lot of traffic to useit (either because these sites have very high traffic themselves or because they have prominent links to useit). Note that search engines (the blue dots) are strongly represented among these often-referring sites.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1997). Design>Web Design>Hypertext

Two Basic Hypertext Presentation Models

The hypertext world has classically distinguished between two fundamentally different ways of presenting hypertext nodes on the screen: scrolling and cards. Throughout the history of hypertext, designers of hypertext systems have argued about the relative merits of these two contrasting approaches. The proponents of the scrolling model are sometimes called the holy scrollers and the proponents of the card model are called the card sharks. Here are examples of documents I have authored myself in these two models, using pre-WWW hypertext systems.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1995). Articles>Information Design>Hypertext

Use Links Efficiently  

When you place content, Adobe® InDesign® 2.0 doesn't just add the graphics and text to your document—it keeps track of the original files as well. You can use the links to update the data if the original file changes, to track down missing graphic information, or to replace a graphic with another, without losing the transformations you've applied. And when you work with text files, it's usually best to remove the link altogether.

Adobe. Articles>Information Design>Document Design>Hypertext

L'Utilisation de l'Hypertexte

L'ennemi de l'hypertexte, c'est l'hypertexte lui-même... Abusez de l'hypertexte et vous ne tarderez pas à dérouter votre visiteur. Evitez donc l'effet 'labyrinthe' dans la mesure du possible ! Un utilisateur ne devrait jamais avoir à explorer des forêts de boutons pour obtenir de simples informations.

Hardy, Jean-Marc. Redaction (2004). Articles>Information Design>Hypertext

Visual-Spatial Thinking in Hypertexts    

This article explores what it means to think visually and spatially in hypertexts. As visual-spatial texts, hypertexts urge users to think differently than they do with paper-based (verbal-linear) texts, perceiving the hypertext in three-dimensions and imagining the possible 'future paths' that might be followed in the text. Drawing from research on visual-spatial thinking from cognitive science, we explore how users react and maneuver in real and virtual three-dimensional spaces. Then we offer four principles of visual thinking that can be applied to the development of hypertexts. Illustrative uses of these principles are provided.

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard D. and Craig Baehr. Technical Communication Online (2001). Design>Information Design>Visual>Hypertext

What is Good Hypertext Writing?

There is more to writing than putting words next to each other, and there is more to writing hypertext than throwing together a bunch of links. When writing text, I have certain goals; when I come across text I dislike, there are certain reasons why I do not like it. You're about to read an attempt to describe these reasons and goals; it is incomplete, subjective, and honest.

Degener, Jutta. Technischen Universitat Berlin (1998). Design>Web Design>Hypertext>Writing

What's Happening: Theory and Research  

What will the 'document of the future' look like? What will be the new balance between text and other channels of communication?

Farkas, David K. STC Orange County (1998). Presentations>Information Design>Hypertext

When to Link Out of Your Site

You should only link out of your own site as a last resort. In general you want to keep your visitors at your site. Heck, isn't that why you built it? But there are times when it makes sense to stop the insanity and add that link. You must send visitors away sometimes.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>Hypertext>Usability

Writing Hypertext Copy

The two pitfalls of writing hypertext copy are links and emotions. Links are a new stylistic element that writers must learn to handle. The emotional problem is harder: we must snap out of the 'host' or 'provider' role, must get away from the excitement of guiding another person through the text, and get back to - just writing.

Degener, Jutta. Technischen Universitat Berlin (1998). Design>Web Design>Hypertext>Writing

Електронната vs. Книга-Печат и Хипертекст

Първата вълна на масирани ХТ изследвания се появи през 1992. Джордж Ландоу написа Конвергенцията на технологията и съвременната критическа теория; Дейвид Болтър - Писменото пространство; Майрън Тъман - Оnline грамотността. Опиращи се на различни предходни теоретични източници в спектъра от Дерида до инженери като Теодор Нелсън, и тримата поддържат гледището, че ХТ се заражда като идея в ранни литературнотеоретични работи.

Ivanov, Zhivko. FortuneCity (1999). (Bulgarian) Articles>Information Design>Hypertext

Препратки по хипертекста

Кратка история на хипертекста, дискусия за хипертекст (теория и практика), и структура на хипертекста.

Ivanov, Zhivko. FortuneCity (1999). (Bulgarian) Design>Web Design>Hypertext

Longitudinal Trends in Academic Web Links    

Longitudinal studies of web change are needed to assess the stability of webometric statistics and this paper forms part of an on-going longitudinal study of three national academic web spaces. It examines the relationship between university inlinks and research productivity over time and identifies reasons for individual universities experiencing significant increases and decreases in inlinks over the last six years. The findings also indicate that between 66 and 70% of outlinks remain the same year on year for all three academic web spaces, although this stability conceals large individual differences. Moreover, there is evidence of a level of stability over time for university site inlinks when measured against research productivity. Surprisingly, however, inlink counts can vary significantly from year to year for individual universities, for reasons unrelated to research which undermines their use in webometrics studies.

Payne, Nigel and Mike Thelwall. Journal of Information Science (2008). Articles>Web Design>Academic>Hypertext

Links and Hypertext: An Introduction to Links and Hypertext

Some types of links are more accessible than others, and some types of links are completely inaccessible to people with certain types of disabilities. Because links are so basic to the functionality of web content, inaccessible links are one of the most severe barriers to overall accessibility.

WebAIM (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Hypertext

Common Ways Links Fail Users

I’ve thought of a few ways that links can fail users. By preventing these sorts of things (which admittedly, aren’t all that easy to prevent) we can design better links with the hopes of attaining that place where users never get lost.

Porter, Joshua. Bokardo (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Hypertext

Image Links vs. Text Links

Years back, we compared successful clickstreams (clickstreams that resulted in users accomplishing their goals, as observed in tons of usability tests) with unsuccessful clickstreams (clickstreams where users abandoned their goals before completing), looking for any clues that would help us predict behaviors in one that we didn’t see in the other. One factor we looked for was whether the clickstreams contained image links versus text links — does one type of link show up more often in successful clickstreams than the other. Our finding was when users clicked in image links they were just as likely to succeed or fail as when the clicked on text links. There was no statistically-meaningful difference.

Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Interface>Hypertext

Lifestyles of the Link-Rich Home Pages

Contrast the Dove home page to the Dove site map. Using 5 times as many links, this page gives a real picture of the content of the site. Even with 148 links, it is well designed and organized nicely. It's easy for users to find what is available quickly.

Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering (2006). Articles>Web Design>Hypertext