Page 102 - Virtual Research Lab flip book

key factor in the success of one website over another. Since the development of blogging programs anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can publish in a fairly professional appearing way online.
Like websites, eBooks may contain hyperlinks. Whether links are an aid to reading comprehension or a distraction may depend upon the individual. Of course, not all readers read footnotes in printed books, and the same may apply to links in digital books or writings. In this essay I am using both links and footnotes. Some of the links are to relevant HistoryofInformation. com entries that expand upon ideas I am discussing. The footnotes supply supporting information or references or both. Do you find the links or footnotes informative or distracting, or do you ignore them?
As mentioned earlier, I wrote these essays entirely on the Internet, and though I might not be the best person to judge the results, I know that writing them in this way has affected the writing process. Most significantly, the ability to link to other sites, or to the database, has raised the ongoing issue of whether I should expand details within these texts, refer you to a link for more detail, or move detail into footnotes. What began simply as a description of the database evolved, mainly since autumn 2010, into the essays you are reading now. Rather than attempting to perfect these writings before posting them to the web, I have found the act of publishing them online as I wrote to be a great motivator for me to keep improving them. There were innumerable drafts and revisions. What you are reading now is mostly what I drafted in 2011. Because my focus turned to other projects, including HistoryofMedicineandBiology.com, I let these drafts stand for about seven years. When I returned to these essays in September 2018, I was surprised to find that there were few factual corrections needed. I did, however, make numerous significant improvements in continuity, and what I might optimistically call writing clarity.
Over the years I did most of the composition of these essays in Adobe DreamWeaver. As these texts grew, issues of formatting, footnoting and others forced me to learn rudiments of HTML coding to achieve the re- sults I want. This was not my intention, but I found it increasingly useful
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