According to Jakob Nielsen (1995), not all applications of hypertext are appropriate. He offers the following three golden rules (p. 67) to help you determine if a hypertext structure is suitable:
There is a large body of information organized into numerous
fragments.
These fragments relate to each other.
Readers need only a small fraction of this information at any
time.
William Horton (1994) recommends putting a document online "only if the benefits of having the document online exceed the cost incurred in putting it online–for you and for the user" (p. 5).
The following applications are ideal for hypertext:
General or specialized reference material
For instance, computer documentation works well online. Task-oriented computer users do not want to read an entire manual but only relevant sections as needed (Nielsen, 1995). They typically turn to online documents for quick answers to their questions.
Any other material that can be chunked into short, self-contained
topics
Most online readers are goal-oriented and seeking specific information. By chunking your material into topics and labeling them with precise headings or subheadings, you aid online readers who tend to scan text searching for this information.
For instance, an online newspaper or magazine article can provide the essential details of an event in the primary text. Links can lead to supplementary details or in-depth background information for those readers who want more. Precise headings clearly identify the content contained under each link.
Note: Just because a document is suitable for this medium does not
guarantee that the document will be effective. Writers still need
to consider how to make that document usable for its readers.
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Last Updated: May 2, 2001
(c)2000 by Alysson Troffer. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute any material from this document, in whole or in part, without written permission.