Navigation entailments as design principles for structuring hypermedia

Abstract

This article introduces a number of guidelines for the design of instructional hypertext, and more specifically for the design of their structure. First, to demonstrate the importance of structure in hypertext design, it considers the entailments of the semiotic specificities of hypertext systems on the design of hypertext structure as well as on the way users understand this structure during their navigation experience. It then introduces two pairs of opposite principles (rationality vs. functionality; usability vs. cognitive flexibility), and examines how and in which contexts they should be used. These pairs of principles are criss-crossed to pinpoint the overlapping between them and to stress their differences. Finally, this analysis leads to questioning the hopes that have been held towards hypertext (and its semiotic peculiarities) as an instructional tool that would make it easy for any learner to informally grasp complex knowledge structures. Such hopes can only be fulfilled through the use of complementary semiotic tools