Do we need a nature reserve for endangered web sites?
Today's web sites jump out at you and grab you. They are often heavily animated and promise us an interactive experience. They are also frequently much less hypertextual than they were a few years ago. Today's sites have links that let us know what's available on a site, but they don't invite adventure, they don't encourage inquisitiveness. That first generation of web sites, frequently close to unbearable visually because of annoying backgrounds and uncalled for animated graphics, was also identifiable by two basic elements that stood out: they were primarily, almost solely, composed of text and simple graphics, and they sought to integrate the use of hypertext into the flow of the text rather than as menus.

The Gutenberg site contained pleasing and interesting graphics, and made very extensive use of associative hypertext. But it would be inaccurate and unfair to write only that. The site also contained a number of interactive activities that permitted the pupil to get a hands-on feel for the printing process. Frankly, looking back on it from the perspective on a couple of years of extensive internet experience since the site went online, it seems to stand the test of time quite well.

 

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