Interface Design for WWW Documents

Interface design is a special problem in hypertext documents. Because of hypertext's non-linear nature, natural cues like page number and physical location are missing. Designers must then take extra care to provide contextual and navigational info in order to keep readers from being lost.

We have lived with Apple's Hypercard software for long enough now that hypertext conventions are fairly commonplace: "Home" means the top-level node or entry point. Underlined or coloured words generally indicate links. Arrows are used to indicate "next" and "back".

But with the advent of networked, open-ended hypertext, problems of navigation and location have increased. It is no longer enough to provide information about one's location within a particular hyperweb; we must now address the problem of being lost on the Net as well.

So, the guidelines for interface design in a WorldWide Web format are going to be significantly different than in a closed system like Hypercard or Storyspace. Where is home? Where are you now? And relative to what?

This is compounded by the fact that people looking at the WWW are doing so from a variety of softwware platforms and browsing applications.

On to next page: Browser vs Site Interface Design

 -- JMax                                            Knossopolis