Letís make sure we (you, the reader and I, your author, collectively) have one thing straight.

This is an attempt to create the ideal text.

Thatís right. The ideal text (according to Barthes, anyway. After all, doesnít everyone have their own definitions of ideal?)

Why hypertext? you, my skeptical reader, may ask. Does hypertext truly epitomize the ideal text?

Hypertext may not inherently be the ideal text described by Barthes, but it certainly assists physically. It is simpler and more accepted to enter and exit a hypertext at any given point -- this text, as you, the reader, will see, makes it necessary, since there is no defined beginning or end. Links also make it easy to see the destruction of borders -- in this text, you will flow just as easily between words I have written and words written by others. And through the physical action of clicking on links, it is easy to see your, the readerís, control -- you will not get very far in this text if you refuse to depress your mouse.

So though hypertext may not be any closer to the ideal textual form, it does illuminate many qualities that Barthes has set out as "ideal."

My professor puts it much more elegantly.