The language of the Web 203
As Tim Berners-Lee points out,^11 a link does not imply any en-
dorsements: ‘Free speech in hypertext implies the “right to link”,
which is the very basic building unit for the whole Web.’ The link is
simply a mechanism to enable hypertext to come into being. And,
as with all tools, it has to be used wisely if it is to be used well –
which in the first instance means in moderation. As William of
Occam might have said, ‘Links should not be multiplied beyond
necessity.’ Because virtually any piece of text can be a link, the risk
is to overuse the device – both internally (within a page, or between
pages at the same site) and externally(between sites). But just as
one can over-footnote a traditional text, so one can over-link a Web
page. There is no algorithm for guiding Web authors or designers as
to the relevance or informativeness of a link. The designer is in the
unhappy position of those unsung heroes, the book indexers, who
try to anticipate all the possible information-retrieval questions
future readers of a book will make. However, page designers are
much worse off, as the ‘book’ of which their particular document
is a tiny part is the whole Web. One does one’s best.
From the Web user’s point of view, the links are provided by the
system. When someone else’s e-mail arrives on our screen, we can,
if we wish, edit it – add to it, subtract from it, or change it in some
way. This is not possible with the copy of the page which arrives on
our computer from our server. We, as readers, cannot alter a Web
site: only the site owner can do that. The owner has total control
over what we may see and what may be accessed, and also what
links we may follow. As Web users, only three courses of action are
totally under our control: the initial choice of a particular site ad-
dress; scrolling through a document once we have accessed it; and
cutting and pasting from it. Although we may choose to follow a
hypertext link that a designer has provided us, the decision over
what those links should be is not ours. As Jackson says:^12
the presence of a link reflects a communicative choice made by the
designer. A link, therefore, is strategic. The possible variationsfor(^11) Berners-Lee (1999: 151). (^12) Jackson (1997: 8).