Every resource (a book, an e-book, a web site, but also a movie, a music etc.) can be divided in sections.
Sections can be:
- autonomous,
- sequential (monodimensional),
- linked, connected with relationships (bidimensional or multidimensional)
- …
A subsection is a section contained in a section. A subsection can contain another (sub)section, so there are sections of different levels (first, second etc.)
I think it’s fundamental to distinguish different types of content organization and, consequently, fruition:
- linear
- typical of traditional books like romances, essays etc. The fruition is sequential, traditionally organized in sections like chapters, paragraphs and single lines.
- hypertextual
- non linear, multidimensional with a net structure typical of traditional books like dictionaries, encyclopedias etc. This typology has increased its potential with the development of information and communication technologies, the web in particular.
In an hypertextual resource we can always suggest a preferred linear path, that explores sequentially the whole content.
Linear content
- index
- Refers to a section providing an index for a collection of sections.
- start
- Refers to the first section in a collection of sections. This link type tells search engines which section is considered by the author to be the starting point of the collection.
- next
- Refers to the next section in a linear sequence of sections. User agents may choose to pre-load the “next” section, to reduce the perceived load time.
- prev
- Refers to the previous document in an ordered series of documents. Some user agents also support the synonym “Previous”.
Hypertextual content
- navigation
- This is the navigation bar on a web document. This is typically a list of links to other pages on the site or other areas of the same document.
- search
- This is the search section of a web document. This is typically a form used to submit search requests about the site or a more general Internet wide search service.
- bookmark
- Refers to a bookmark. A bookmark is a link to a key entry point within an extended document. The title attribute may be used, for example, to label the bookmark. Note that several bookmarks may be defined in each document.
