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Subject:Web Folks I need your input From:Paula Puffer <techwrtr -at- CEI -dot- NET> Date:Wed, 9 Jul 1997 07:40:34 -0500
The Scenario:
I'm writing the first electronic thesis at the university I am attending
and am undecided how to handle links that lead to other sites. Since the
topic is Web related, the outside references are inevitable and because
some of the documents will only be available on the web the problem becomes
even more complicated. Because I am talking about the different sites that
I have designed, where it is appropriate, I'll incorporate the actual pages
into the web I am currently building.
After the defense, the web will be burned onto a CD ROM for storage. The
actual site will probably be moved off the server it is on and continue to
grow some place else.
The options as I see them at this moment:
1. Keep the Web relatively closed so that external links are not
immediately available to the user. In addition to the bibliography, make an
Outside Links Section that has all the active URLs included in it. The user
would be focused on the site and not have the opportunity to drift from
it. This may be fine for the CD, but may actually be prohibitive for a
functioning web site.
2. Go ahead and write the web site as I see it possibly functioning in the
long term. It may mean that folks "drift" away from the site through the
external links. There might be a problem in terms of the CD-ROM but I
honestly don't know. I've never done a web that was burned on to a CD so I
don't know what some of the trappings might be. I already know that there
will be problems in terms of the scripting section and the Web
technologies section and I may have to come up with some alternatives.
There are probably other options that I have not thought of and I am open
to suggestions. Regardless of what I do, on the CD-ROM there will be a
statement that these links were current as of such and such date and that
the web is of the nature that links change (I already found this to have
happened for a couple of links that I used).
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