Abstract
This paper focuses on the relationship between semantics and aesthetics in spatial hypertext. The author departs from the observation that certain metaphors from the GUI world have a stronger effect on spatial hypertext than on other information systems. It is argued that the human desire to compose objects on a picture plane not only due to semantic, but also due to aesthetic principles, counteracts the construction of meaning. The author intends to encourage a discussion about the tension between finished presentational structures and working interpretive structures in spatial hypertext systems. The grounding of this discussion are art theory, psychology and other non-hypertext sources.
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