Functional link typing in hypertext
Though a fundamental component of hypertext, little research has been aimed at developing the link's ability to express specific qualities of the relationship that it establishes between nodes of information. A proposal is made for the development of a taxonomy of link types that describe the function (discursive quality) that characterize the formation of links. Furthermore, it is argued that the taxonomy should be empirically derived and not established a priori. A number of existing link typologies are reviewed, and it is suggested that there is sufficient breadth in these typologies to provide a test-bed of representative types for use in the empirical investigation.
link typing design documentation human factors theory electronic publishing link taxonomies