Reflection on 7 Issues: Hypertext in the Era of the Web

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109

Reflections on "Seven Issues": Hypertext in the Era

of the Web

Frank G. Halasz

130 Bradley Dr.

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

fghalasz@pacbell.net

Abstract

Frank Halasz revisits his papers "Reflections on NoteCards: Seven Issues

for the Next Generation of Hypermedia Systems" and "Seven Issues: Revisited" from a Web perspective. His goal is to better understand how the Web

has shaped and often overshadowed how we look at the tremendous possibilities of hypertext.

Keywords

hypertext/hypermedia, user interface design, World-Wide Web

Introduction

In the thirteen years since the publication of "Reflections on NoteCards:

Seven Issues for the Next Generation of Hypermedia Systems" (Halasz,

1988), the world of hypertext has been swept by a tidal wave of change

brought on by theWorld-Wide Web. Culturally, economically, and practically,

the Web has come to dominate the world of hypertext, as it has for much of

the world of computing in general. Even in research, the Web dominates much

of the thinking about advanced hypertext systems and applications. Looking

at it with the benefit of hindsight, I see the most remarkable aspect of "Seven

Issues" is that it missed the Web entirely.

In writing "Seven Issues," my goal was to lay out a vision for the nearterm future of hypertext, circa 1988. Three years later, in my "Seven Issues:

Revisited" talk at Hypertext'91 (Halasz, 1991), my goal was to review and

renew that vision based on the progress in hypertext from 1988 through 1991.

In rereading "Seven Issues" and "Revisited" for the first time in almost 10

years, I was struck by the fact that neither of these visions included even a hint

of the world-wide, world-transforming hypertext system that was just around

the comer. As pointed out by Elli Mylonas in her commentary in this issue,

"Seven Issues" is about systems "in the small." From the "Seven Issues" perspective, hypertext is a tool for individuals and workgroups to manage their...