Strait-Jacketing Authors: User Interface Consistency in Large-Scale Hypermedia Systems

This paper examines the issue of user interface consistency in large-scale, multi-author hypermedia systems. Many existing systems allow the author full control of both information content and the user interface. Previous experience uncovered consistency problems when a large number of different authors were given such control. The solution proposed is to “strait-jacket” authors: to restrict their role to the provision of information only. The flexibility taken away from the author can be granted to the user by offering a choice of configurable user interface metaphors.