The Next Wave of Format

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•Introduction

•The nature of formats

•How new formats come to be

•The state of creative formats on the web today

•The next wave of format

   Formats for coherence

   Formats for diversity

   Formats for navigation

   Formats for flux

   Formats for ubiquity

   Formats for identifying origins

•Conclusion

Formats for navigation: Indicating the range and focus of a new move before it is taken.

One of the most interesting and influential new formats on the web is (for lack of a better term) the non-linear, multilayered research paper -- a format for in-depth argument, buttressed by research, with plenty of diagrams and digressions. To call it a "research paper" doesn't do justice to it, because it is often used to write for large audiences of lay people. Layered with annotated links, overlapping windows with sub-arguments and thematic overviews allows people to investigate an author’s argument in depth — in effect, by "clicking through" to the level of specificity that the reader wants. The deeper you click in, the more enthusiastic (or obsessive) you probably are about the subject.

It makes sense that this format is so prevalent. Many influential web writers and designers academic research mavericks, with training in conventional research but a strong "hacker ethic" streak that encourages plain, open communication. The web itself, was originally conceived as a vehicle for more effective research communication; and so, for that matter, was Ted Nelson's Xanadu project, which preceded and influenced it. Yet it still takes too much time and effort, even now, to create a really good multilayered research paper online, because the prevailing conventions and formats for indicating the purpose of links are still too vague and unformed.

Consider for example, the link. Ideally most links should make it clear, before you leap, where you are going. This can't be mandated in software or controlled by a publishing authority; it can only happen through example, custom, and audience demand. Inevitably, the ways that links are worded and designed will evolve into one (or several) universal collections of linking formats, composed of graphic and textual cues that signal different types of connections:

• Links to another piece by the same author;

•Links to expanded or more in-depth perspectives on the same subject;

• Links to popular destinations (using, say, the Google rankings);

• Links to obscure but significant destinations;

• Links that are returned (where both pages link to each other);

• Links with authority or authoritativeness;

• Links that require passwords or identity checks;

• Links to potentially offensive material;

• Oblique links (for which the audience will need to figure out the association);

• Links that open new browser windows;

• Links that return to a basic starting point (a home or sub-home);

• Links to places to post comments.

HTML and XML, the web-page composing languages, offer no standard ways of making these distinctions. They will emerge through convention and fashion, starting at the most popular websites and gaining acceptance as people get used to them. As the fashions of the web change, people will get accustomed to recognizing ever changing cues.

Other navigational devices -- pop-up menus, rollovers, frame menus, and so forth -- will similarly acquire layers of meaning above and beyond their technological features. This, in turn, will give users of the web a sense of its depth in a way that they have not had before. For example, most of us want the simple version of most news stories; we will seek out CNN.com style summaries. But when we want to understand a story in depth we will gravitate to other news sources with more interlocked perspectives. Ideally, some graphic cue in the links themselves would indicate how deeply probing the destination site is.

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