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| Allow me to dwell
deeper into this. A link can be both a possibility for
choice as well as a constraint, depending on how a reader
sees it, isn't it? A well-read person reading a piece of
text would not have the same interpretation as a less
well read person. The former would probably find the
piece of text lacking or limiting because a lot of things
that he had read about elsewhere that should have been
included are not included. In contrast, the latter would
be more oblivious to the inadequacy simply because he had
not read enough to know what is lacking. This kind of
interpretative ability of readers to make sense of texts
is perhaps quite universal i.e. regardless of the kind of
genre. And if this potential of a link being both a
possibility as well as a constraint is a result of
interpretation by the reader, this potential is not so
unique for hypertext in this sense. After all, readers
interpret all the time, be it for print text or
hypertext. If readers can interpret hypertexts in that
way, why can't they do the same for print texts? Aesthetics One last thing I would like to raise is the aesthetics. Links can add aesthetics to texts because it allows many different things to be linked. From sounds to pictures to animations, there is nothing a link can't be linked to. Hence, if we were to transform a print text into an electronic one, the same text would definitely increase in its aesthetics value, not only in content but design as well. Under aesthetics of content, links make a text more interactive and clear. Under aesthetics of design, links allow colorful graphics and animations like movie clips to be linked to the main text, making it visually stimulating. Texts become more reader-friendly with the use of links to break lengthy chunks of text into several pages, allowing for more space to rest the eyes on. And of course, links provides a balance of freedom and constraint, as discussed earlier. This balance is part of aesthetics too. |
