Navigation in Hypertext

Preview Functions

Preview functions give readers an idea about the destination if they follow a link.

Storyspace permits authors to attach information to links by naming them. This provides much useful information.

Intermedia provided two forms of preview information [Landow]:

  • First, its Web View announced destinations of all links from the current lexia; activating a link marker with a single mouse click darkened the icons for all the lexias linked to it; clicking twice followed the link.
  • It also permitted authors to attach descriptions to each anchor, and these descriptions appeared in menus automatically generated when one followed a link leading to two or more lexias.

In some web viewers, such as Internet Explorer, when a reader mouses over an anchor, they show the destination URL. Authors can also provide preview functions, such as by putting useful information about the destination in the tag Alt of HTML for an image that has link. Readers can view this information when they mouse over the image. Authors can also phrase the text anchor to give readers more hints about its destination.

Navigation in Hypertext Navigation Aids

Last modified: 6 Nov 2002 by Kathy Nguyen Dang