Hypertext in the Open Air: A Systemless Approach to Spatial Hypertext

Authors

  • Jim Rosenberg Grindstone, PA, USA

Abstract

This paper presents a personal spatial hypertext authoring system called The Frame Stack Project, implemented as a lightweight set of classes in the generic object framework Morphic, available in the programming environment Squeak. Morphic provides a kind of off-the-shelf toolkit of objects and behaviors extremely relevant to spatial hypertext. In this project, run-time vs. authoring behavior is a state property of individual objects in a highly granular way. A key goal is the support of feral structure, in which objects can be created loose on the desktop, without assigning them any structural destination. This provides an implementation of an interactive version of the poet’s notebook. The granular approach to object authoring supports “interactive writing” in the truest sense of the word.

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Published

2009-07-29 — Updated on 2023-09-18