Conclusion

Very little work has been done towards a systematic and comprehensive approach to the design of a user interface for a hypertext system using traditional and modern user interface design principles. This paper proposed the application of a set of user interface design guidelines to a hypertext framework developed earlier. It has been suggested that the understanding of how people use their cognitive skills to handle information will greatly enhance the design and evaluation of hypertext systems [Wright, 1991]. We believe that a user interface design based on the above systematic approach combined with the semantic richness of nodes and links would greatly reduce ambiguity, disorientation, and cognitive overhead. We need such an approach in order to integrate hypertext applications into our daily work in an increasingly collaborative environment.