This hypertext contains 97 screens connected by 272 links. Some screens are very brief; others require scrolling.
Web browsers visually emphasize the links, but the content of a screen is probably best read before following the links, as that content and where the links take you may not be always related in straightforward ways. Not all the links are binary movements from summary to details, or question to answer, or claim to comment.
There are enough cross-links that if you go on from a screen you are likely to find yourself back at it eventually. So, it is not necessary to keep backtracking to follow all the links from one screen. Still, you may want to read that way now and then; if you do, or if you want to back out of an area that seems repetitious, use your browser's "Back" button or history list.
This essay is structured around four major themes, color coded so that readers know when they are engaging in ideas related to each. When the essay was originally published the themes and colors included:
- Green: Hypertext and what it can do
- Blue: University and linkage
- Salmon: Experimental hypertext gestures (i.e. repetition)
- Pale Pink: Kwinter's Essay
Because the color palette originally created for the essay reflects design practices of the mid- to late-1990s, it has been updated for contemporary readers accustomed to more saturated colors. The graphic below shows the changes made.
Readers will also notice that introductory materials, such as this lexia, About, and 30 years later, have been changed from pale yellow to white. Those familiar with pre-Web hypertexts may, when reading the Menu items, recognize the homage this version pays to Deena Larsen who often played with naming links and paths.
The treatment of the links remains the same in this version. As you read the screens, your Web browser will change the color of the links leading to screens you have already seen. However, since the screens are linked in non-hierarchical ways, you will need to follow some "already used" links, both to read old screens in new contexts, and to find new links.
Be aware that part of the text contains several sets of almost identical screens with the same titles. There especially, it is the pattern of linking and the contrasts among the screens that are important.
The whole text contains about twelve thousand words, so there may be more than you have yet found.
(This essay was composed in Storyspace, which provides maps of the link patterns, and then exported to HTML, which does not. The HTML was then refined using BBEdit.)
