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Most descriptions of hypertext point to the lack of a definite sequence as a reader-based freedom.
| "the reader begins at a point of his or her own choosing--a point chosen from a potentially very large number of possible starting points. The reader proceeds from there by following a series of links connecting documents to one another, exiting not at a point defined by the author as 'The End' but rather when s/he has had enough." |  |
Readers of hypertexts can determine the piece of information they will next encounter by selecting a link from the page they are currently viewing. The options within any given page obviously are granted by the authority of the web-designer who puts the links on the page and by the potential made available by the browser interface. So typically, a user can read a page, point to a link, and know, by looking in at the status bar, to see the URL he or she will next view.
However, newer browser interfaces and adaptions to the primary programming language, "HTML" allow the browser tools to be manipulated by the web-designers, giving more and more authority to the designer with each new version of the software. So now, I can decide whether to allow you to see the "URL" or give you the familiar "BACK" button or anything else. In fact, in this window, I will give you nothing.
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