In “Can I haz web?,” Bertrand Delacrétaz wrote:
How many people today still think information is only valid or “serious” when represented on an A4 piece of paper?
Well, except it’s letter, not A4… but the point is dead on. People aren’t thinking of the web very well.
I’d echo Bertrand’s point, and amplify.
Here’s the thing: the web is meant to be active. You should be able to jump into a latticework of information from any other piece of information, using unobtrusive links.
Wikis start to understand the concept of highly cross-linked pages, which is why they’re so effective.
Links are one-way (as Bertrand points out), and there should be a better way to point back and forth than the browser’s “back” button – and for that matter, links should be multiplexed too.
The idea is that a link should have multiple destinations, with a primary destination. Imagine a link that says “GigaSpaces,” except instead of just going to http://gigaspaces.com, it goes to a stock page, or possibly a review (glowing, of course), or maybe even a set of articles that discuss GigaSpaces. And at the same time, maybe there’s some way for the destination you choose to include my link – as well as any others that are appropriate.
It’s vibrantly linked. That’s something thing the web really should have, in my opinion.
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