SuperBook

Abstract

The goals and methods of the text browser, SuperBook, are compared with those of hypertext systems in general. SuperBook, intended to provide improved access to text existing in electronic form, employs cognitive tools arising from human computer interaction research, such as full-text indexing, adaptive aliasing, and dynamic views of hierarchical information. Superbook automatically preprocesses on-line text written for paper publication, and produces a multi-window display, including a dynamic table of contents, pages of text, and a history of search words. Although SuperBook and hypertext share common goals of improved search and navigation, SuperBook is designed for accessing existing documents while most hypertext systems are better suited for authoring new information structures. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of each of these kinds of systems.