Navigation not only guides a user through the piece but highlights whatever is used as the navigation.
Navigation is the key to the work. Most electronic writers explain their navigation techniques as the variations on navigation are infinite:
Unexpected navigation Stephanie Strickland's works are very fine poetry, and use text and imagery to get her points across. She usually colors words according to theme rather than according to the current Web conventions for coloring words that are links. For instance,
in the Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot,words
are colored according to theme rather than according to the current Web conventions for coloring words that are links. These colors highlight recurring ideas and weave memories and resonances throughout the piece. Text links are hidden, asking the reader to mouse over the words slowly to find the links. This slow and somewhat unorthodox navigation further strengthens the relationships between words and images as we are forced to look carefully at the navigation, placement of words, and juxtaposition of imagery.
Controlling navigation. Kendall has gone on to program the Connection Muse, a java-script based system that lets writers program conditional links (i.e, if this set of conditions has been met, go to part A; if that set has been met, go to part B) and other dynamic actions. Kendall uses this system in his new poetry such as Penetration which again offers new choices every time the poem is read, creating new juxtapositions of meanings. The Connection Muse thus allows e-poets to create dynamic poetry for the Web without the pain and suffering involved in programming these conditional paths by hand. With this powerful new tool, e-poets are beginning to explore ways of navigating and manipulating poems that have never before been possible. E-poets can now create multiple meanings simply by offering different tracks through the work, although working in these new dimensions takes skill and forethought to plan out how readers will react and how the computer will react to the reader's choices.