Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!apple!malcolm
From: malcolm@Apple.COM (Malcolm Slaney)
Newsgroups: comp.org.ieee
Subject: Re: Hypertext format (Re: Standards on Standards)
Message-ID: <33285@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 19 Jul 89 15:54:51 GMT
References: <214@sierra.stanford.edu> <10766@brunix.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 33

In article <10766@brunix.UUCP> ted@bimini.UUCP (Tony Davis) writes:
>.....
>The minimum hypertext standard simply provides a format for specifiying the
>source and destination of links.  
>.....
I don't think hypertext is going to be successful with just smart links.  I've
just about finished writing a Hypercard introduction to a large database of
auditory demonstrations/illusions.  The hardest part of this endeavor has
not creating the links but designing the screen layout and the user interface.

Linear text is easy to present.  It doesn't take much imagination to figure
out how to present a string of characters on the screen.  But as soon as you
add multiple dimensions to the document it becomes much harder to organize.
Trying to make it clear to the user (reader) should be the most important
goal.

For a good introduction to this problem read Danny Goodman's "The Complete
Hypercard Handbook."   He argues, among other things, that a graphics 
designer should be part of every hypertext design effort.  The user interface
is the hard part!

And as far as IEEE is concered....I applaud their efforts!  I don't know 
anything about the hypertext system they chose but it's time to stop using 
just linear text.  I want to write papers with live equations where the user 
can plug their parameters into my equations and see the graphs change.  I want
to be able to put an animated figure into my paper and when the user asks
for it the figure starts moving.  I'm doing work on pitch perception.  I want
my audio illustrations to be part of the paper and not on a seperate cassette
tape that can get lost and is not convenient.  All of this will help my 
readers understand the work I am doing.

						Malcolm Slaney
						ATG Speech and Hearing Project