HYPERTEXT OR HYPERMEDIA ?

HYPERTEXT OR  HYPERMEDIA?

if the web incorporates so much more than text, why do I  keep  calling the web a hypertext system? Well, if you’re going to be absolutely technically correct about it, the web is not a hypertext system _it’s a hypermedia system. But, on the other hand, is still text-heavy, with extra bits of media added in as emphasis. Many very educated people are arguing these very points at this moment and presenting their arguments in papers and discursive rants as educated people like to do. Whatever, I prefer the term hypertext, and it’s my book, so I’m going to use it. You know what I mean.

THE WEB IS CROSS-PLATFORM

If you can access the internet, you can access the internet, you can access the world wide web, regardless of whether you’re working on a low-end PC or a fancy expensive workstation. More recently, people began accessing the internet through their mobile phones, portable hand-held PCs, and personal information managers. If you think windows menus and buttons look better than Macintosh menus and buttons or vice versa (or if you think both  Macintosh and windows people are weenies), it doesn’t  matter. The world wide web isn’t limited to any one kind of machine or developed by any one company. The web is entirely cross-platform.

THE CROSS-PLATFORM IDEAL

The whole idea that the web is-and should be-cross-platform is strongly held to by purists. The reality, however, is somewhat different with the introduction over the years of numerous special features, technologies, and media types, the web has years of numerous special features, technologies, and media types, the web has lost some of its capability to be truly cross-platform. As web authors choose to use these nonstandard features, they willingly limit the potential audience for the content of their sites. For example, a site centered around a flash animation is essentially unusable for someone using a browser that doesn’t have a flash player, or for a user who might have turned off flash for quicker downloads. Similarly \, some pro-grames that extend the capabilities of a browser (known as plug-ins) are available only for one platform (either windows, Macintosh, or UNIX). Choosing to use one of one of those plug-ins makes that portion of your site unavailable to users who are either on the wrong platform or don’t want to bother to download and install the plug-in.