But in general, there is a division between documents that provide end-use information , and those that act as guides to other documents. Optimally, these will be superior to hard-copy documents in terms of timeliness, ease of access, representative point of view, or some other attribute. Note that some surfing is inevitable and desirable, as users navigate through documents, which can lead to serendipitous discovery of relevant resources. But the most fruitful end-use documents and indexes and directories that link directly to them should be the primary focus of serious Web users. Electronic formats provide a means of organizing information in ways that may or may not resemble the organization of hard-copy materials.
Users can adapt to different types of format.
But all should be aware of the wide range in the types of format that exist on the Web, and how to navigate through them. These formats will look differently depending on the browser that one uses. Many advanced formats cannot be viewed using a graphics-only browser, such as lynx. But electronic skimming by a search mechanism can be far more rapid and accurate than the hard copy equivalent done by the human eye. PINE, lynx, and other web browsers all have the capacity to search a document that is being viewed.