Lists of Node Names

Many hypertext systems force the author to structure the information at too early a stage. An example is the need to give names to nodes before the author knows what the node will really be about [Walker-88]. A solution is to offer a "rename" command that updates all links to nodes you wish to rename.

Keeping a list of names of nodes already in use is important to recognize when references are made to the same node. When creating a link you should recognize that the node you wish to point to already exists or already has a name.

Systems like Hyperties offer to the author a list of dangling links, i.e. links already created but pointing to nodes that do not (yet) exist. For Web-sites there also exist some (freely available) tools to find dangling links (and other information). MOMspider is such a tool, developed at the University of California at Irvine.