It never occurred to me to relate hypertext to literary technique. I also have not thought a lot about the organization of links and how they relate to each other in patterns. Reading Mark Bernstein’s “Patterns of Hypertext” helped me to recognize some of the patterns at sites that I see regularly but take for granted.
Most Web pages seem to use some variation of the “cycle.” The most important information is on the home page and no matter where you go from the home page you will likely be directed back at some point. On e-commerce sites, every visitor will eventually be directed to a check-out page. This seems to fit the pattern of “split/join.”
While reading about the “split/join” pattern, I was reminded of the Choose Your Own Adventure books I read as a kid where you read the introduction but at an essential moment in the plot, you, the reader, must make a decision. If you choose option A, turn to page 11; if you choose option B, turn to page 15. Your choices affect the eventual outcome of the story. However, there may be several choices that lead you to the same outcome. The reader is able to have some control over the direction of the story, but the author still controls the boundaries of the plot.
I think there is a lot of potential for the “montage” pattern to be used more in hypertext. An example that I came across recently is the answers.com application that allows users to click on any word and have a balloon open, on the same screen, that gives information about the word or name. I use the downloadable version of this all the time now when I’m editing if I want to double-check the meaning of a word. I have found that it works in any program I’m in, from Word to QuarkXPress. Another example of “montage” is the Snap previews on WordPress that show you a screenshot of the link before you actually click on it. I love not having to actually leave the page to do this sort of thing. I don’t have to worry about getting “lost” if I follow another link or open another window.
Discussion questions:
- How much information about the organization of the site should users understand before trying to navigate the site?
- Do patterns make navigation easier?
- Is there ever a reason to try to disorient the reader?
