WWWeb Hypertext Style

Terminology Being Used

book

A traditional, linear, sequential, paper-based, printed, "dead" document. Designed to be printed. Often a single author. Edited by professional editor. Published by book seller. Large, 100 to 1000 pages.

content, document

The material in the body of a book, the material in the nodes of a hypertext document.

hypertext document

An electronic, "on-line," non-linear, multi-sequential, non-printed, screen-based, live, interactive, reader-structured document. A collection of nodes stored as one or more WWWeb files. Designed for the screen. Often a single author. Edited by the author. Published by the author. Given away. Small, 20 to 100 screen pages. Sometimes called a WWWeb "site."

hypertext editor

A program that enables the author of a hypertext document to edit the structure as well as the content of a hypertext document. Sometimes called a WWWeb "site" editor, for example, SiteMill.

hypertext reading order, natural

Given a top or starting page, a hypertext defines a "natural" or default reading order based on the well known depth-first search algorithm. This is the reading order algorithm implied by the traditional table of contents used in books. A simplified version of the algorithm goes like so. Begin at the top page. Follow the first link to a new page. Follow the first link on that page to another page. Continue following links until you reach a page with no new links to follow, then use the history list to back up to the previous page and follow any unused links on that page. Continue until all links on the top page have been followed.

link

A pointer to a node. Generally hot-text but could be implemented as a button.

link, external

A link to a hypertext page that is part of another document (by a different author or by the same author) or to an electronic service (such as an Email program). A reference to a print-based document is not a link.

link, internal

A link to a different node in the same hypertext document.

link, local

A link to a location within the same node in a hypertext document. For example, a footnote link.

link, logical

What the reader sees, generally the name of the node being pointed to.

link, physical

What the computer sees, the HTML code containing the URL.

link, reference, external

An link to another hypertext document. Examples in books are: references cited in footnotes or in a bibliography.

link, reference, internal

A link to another node in the same hypertext document where the link is not being used to determine a reading order. Similar to cross references in books.

link, sequence, explicit

A link in an ordered list of links where the order defines a suggested reading order.

link, sequence, implicit

An internal link at the beginning or end of a node that is part of a logical sequence of nodes, where the link points to the previous or next node in the logical sequence.

node

A named, logical block or chunk of text.

site

A collection of related WWWeb pages, the WWWeb term used for a "hypertext document."

structure, document, logical

The logical order of sections in a book, the links in a hypertext document.

structure, document, physical

The physical order of sections in a book, the files (or file) containing a hypertext document.

user interface

The physical features and reading tools provided by a book or hypertext browser.

WWWeb document

A collection of one or more WWWeb pages with a coherent theme. Similar to a book or a paper. Generally written by a single author or organization referred to as "the author." Sometimes called a WWWeb "site." Often a unified collection of WWWeb pages stored in a single folder or directory. Sometimes called a local web. Does not include WWWeb documents pointed to but not under the control of the author.

NOTES

Normally this page would be named "Glossary," but since this document discusses the general concept of a glossary on a page named "Glossary," some other name must be used.