HyperText Design Issues: Intended Uses
TimBL
Intended Uses
Here are some of the many areas in which hypertext is
used. Each area has its specific requirements in the way of
features required.
- General reference data - encyclopaedia, etc.
- Completely centralized publishing - online help,
documentation, tutorial etc
- More or less centralized dissemination of news which has
a limited life
- Collaborative authoring
- Collaborative design of something other than the
hypertext itself
- Personal notebook
The CERN requirement has a mixture of many of these uses,
except that there is not a requirement for distribution of
fixed hypertext on hard media such as optical disk. Evidently,
the system will have to be networked, though databases may
start life at least as personal notebooks.
For looking up data bases, the user should be able to refer
to already prepared complex queries by simple UDIs. A moe
advanced user should also be able to prepare a complex query
himself, store it (interpreted language!) in his local filing
space, and use it through a simple UDI.
[The (paper) document "HyperText and CERN" describes the
problem to be solved at CERN, and the requirements of a
system which solves them. That information is not repeated
here.]
