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Structure

In a way, this is the most difficult section to write in this entire guide. The idea of structure or organization tends to lead to a hierarchical approach which does not exploit the full potential of hypertext. Unlike books, which are split into chapters, paragraphs, and sentences, hypertext is a blend of text, images, sound, and animation which can be organized any way that the creator can imagine.

For example, information could be divided into small "nuggets," consisting of a bit of text, an image or some sounds. Each of these would then be conected to other nuggets which have something in common with the first nugget. A given nugget could be of any size, with a corresponding number of connections. Each nugget could also be multi-faceted, presenting a different side of itself to viewers who approached it from different connections.

For someone looking for all the information on a given topic, a search engine could rapidly construct a list of all the relevant nuggets, since each would be small enough to enable a rapid search. Alternatively, a search engine could combine search results to produce a "mega-nugget."

Of course, this is just one of many approaches that hypertext makes possible. Given a little creativity and some time, you can doubtless come up with many more.