0.2.1 HyperTopics and Examples

This book has been designed to achieve some of the advantages while avoiding some of the problems of computer-based hypertext. Hypertext has the advantage of providing pointers within the text that lead readers to additional material on topics that interest them. For example, a paragraph about typewriters might contain the word "keyboard," and clicking that word with a mouse could cause the computer to display a paragraph about different keyboard layouts. We've incorporated a similar technique by placing examples and supplemental material called "HyperTopics" near the text they're related to.

Hypertext has the disadvantage that readers often become confused as they jump from the middle of one concept to another, and to another, and to another, loosing track of any central theme. This book provides a mainline, the plain text you are reading now, that ties together all the details under the common theme of the design process. Chapters in the book are ordered to reflect that process, although materials within each chapter are often organized according to more abstract principles. For a quick overview or review of a chapter, you may want to read just the chapter's mainline.