Today's web sites jump out at you and grab you. They are
often heavily animated and promise us an interactive experience. They are
also frequently much less hypertextual than they were a few years ago.
Today's sites have links that let us know what's available on a site, but
they don't invite
adventure, they don't
encourage inquisitiveness. That first generation of web sites, frequently
close to unbearable visually because of annoying
backgrounds and uncalled for animated graphics, was also identifiable by
two basic elements that stood out: they were primarily, almost solely,
composed of text and simple graphics, and they sought to integrate the
use of hypertext into the flow of the text rather than as menus.
The Gutenberg site contained pleasing and interesting graphics, and
made very extensive use of associative hypertext. But it would be inaccurate
and unfair to write only that. The site also contained a number of interactive
activities that permitted the pupil to get a hands-on feel for the printing
process. Frankly, looking back on it from the perspective on a couple of
years of extensive internet experience since the site went online, it seems
to stand the test of time quite well.