Advantages of Hypertext Format

Enhancing encyclopedic information into hypertext format has many advantages [Raymond & Tompa, 1988], [Cook, 1988]:

1. Hypertext form can support good browsing capability.
2. Electronic media can store large amounts of information.
3. It can provide better visual prominence and more rapid navigation through huge number of entries - a key mechanism to be employed in dynamic formatting of entries according to user specifications.
4. Most users refer to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and training manuals as part of more extended tasks. They would like to save their results and queries for future use, use annotation facilities, the ability to transfer OED text segments to other documents, tools to sort and filter quotations, and tools for statistical analysis of variables.