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Highlights - Hypertext Gardens

Mark Bernstein's 1998 Essay Hypertext Gardens

Linked by Maggie Appleton's article A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden

The Limits of Structure "excessive rigidity can be costly: the repeated appearance of navigation centers -- the home page and other navigational landmarks -- can send the wrong message. Each time readers finish an article, the navigational apparatus returns them to a central page. Revisiting a landmark always suggests closure, prematurely inviting the reader to leave the hypertext and do something else."

Gardens "Gardens and parks lie between farmland and wilderness. The garden is farmland that delights the senses, designed for delight rather than commodity. The park is wilderness, tamed for our enjoyment."

Establishing Order "Parks...may require architectural elements to announce their artifice and to frame the visitor's first impression. The ranch-house gate, the monumental arch, the visitors' center: all serve this purpose. Hypertexts, too, can use formal frames and gateways to good effect, demonstrating design and planning at the outset while also demonstrating a deliberate intent to avoid rigidly codified structure."

Curves and Crossings "Curves, interrupted views, intersections, and incidental detail make small spaces seem larger. Hypertext pathways and intersections, similarly, make small hypertexts appear richer and more varied." "Too many intersecting paths, of course, can confuse the visitor; the designer's art lies in choosing which pathways to reveal while keeping other potential connections from sight."