Title: The Writing and Editing Aspects of the System - Hypertext Editing System (HES)
Considering just the editing capabilities of our Hypertext Editing
System, there is a difference in kind between our approach and the
standard computer approaches to editing.
Most computer editing systems are designed for minimal equipment,
such as the teletypewriter. In contrast we wanted to take advantage
of the full capabilities of a high-powered computer display. An editing
system which might be sufficient for programmers will not fulfill the
needs of writers. Most computer editing systems, especially the so-called
"line" or "context" editors, (Deutsch, 1967), are primarily used with
formalized or stylized texts -- such as computer programs themselves --
where line numbers, keywords, or labels are used as sure guides to
content.
We did not wish to inflict line numbers on the user, or to make him
"program" little changes in his data (as by typing in substitution
operators). Such systems require great patience and saintliness on
the part of the user, and run less by computer power than by the power
or positive thinking. We wished instead to implement the "positive
power of grunting" -- the user's ability to effect changes by minimal
and rudimentary actions.
We also wished the user to make reference to his work conceptually,
by sections or by context of ideas, however he feels is natural.
Our philosophical position is essentially that the writer is engaged
in very complicated pursuits, and that this work legitimately has
a freewheeling character that should not be encumbered with irrelevant
restrictions on size and structure of text or operations -- ideally,
"anything goes" as long as it is well defined.
Therefore it became our intent to provide the user with unrestricted
"spatial" options, and not to bother him with arbitrary concerns that
have no meaning in terms of the work being performed. The entities
he would be concerned with would correspond to the content of
conventional writing: words, sentences, paragraphs, sections, and
also non-structured, arbitrary fragments of text to be rearranged
and spliced into appropriate combinations. He would not encounter
line numbers, page artifacts, or footnote numbers, all of which
are extraneous artfacts of conventional writing "hardware", that
is, paper.
His activities, too, would correspond to the operations ordinarily
performed upon text by writers and editors. He would be able to
perform manipulations directly upon pieces of text: correcting,
moving, linking and copying etc. Such actions would correspond
directly to the "scissors-and-paste" operations of rearranging
manuscripts. In addition, the writer would be able to do various
other things which are usually very costly in time and/or money,
or downright impossible: file previous drafts, spin off alternative
versions for separate tinkering, and communicate between separate
versions, lifting or replacing sections as desired.
As an aside, we know of only one other group, that of Douglas
Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute, which has produced
a system along similar lines -- their work on "Augmenting Human
Intelligence" is first rate (Engelbart, 1968).
A Hypertext Editing System for the /360 Steven Carmody, Walter Gross, Theodor H.Nelson, David Rice, Andries van Dam
Center for Computer & Information Sciences
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
File Number HES360-0
Form AVD-6903-0
4 April 1969
Page 8
