Rethinking The Academy:

Can One Design Hypertexts to Move Directly to Print?

In part, the answer to this question is that designers cannot and cannot be expected to do so. If I write a hypertext that includes a link to Microsoft, or to one of the search engines like Yahoo, both links that might be appropriate in the hypertext world, it would be inappropriate and illegal to include printouts of Microsoft's pages in a printed document without both permission and citation. That page itself might include a trademarked logo, which would provide a link to another site, which would itself have links to yet other sources. Even if I get proper permission, the ability to move to those sites and visit at the click of a mouse would be lost; in this environment, we cannot truly say that we can design a "print hypertext." In reality, this is ultimately oxymoron.

Having said that, I wish to point out the problem of boundaries in hypertext: what materials properly make up this article? Where does the World Wide Web end?

How to Navigate This Essay Without Getting Lost

Back to the Table of Contents

Last Modified: August 2, 1996

Copyright © 1996 by Keith Dorwick