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Hyperbole User Manual

1.1 Hyperbole Overview

There are three categories of Hyperbole buttons:

explicit buttons

created by Hyperbole, accessible from within a single document;

global buttons

created by Hyperbole, accessible anywhere within a user's network of documents;

implicit buttons

created and managed by other programs or embedded within the structure of a document, accessible from within a single document. Hyperbole recognizes implicit buttons by contextual patterns given in their type specifications (explained later).

Explicit Hyperbole buttons may be embedded within any type of text file. Implicit buttons may be recognized anywhere within a text file, depending on the implicit button types that are available. All global buttons are stored in a single location and activated by entering their names, rather than by direct selection, the means used to activate explicit and implicit buttons.

To summarize:

Button Category Active Within Activation Means Managed By ======================================================================== Explicit a single document direct selection Hyperbole Global any document specifying its name Hyperbole Implicit a matching context direct selection other tools ========================================================================

Hyperbole buttons may be clicked upon with a mouse to activate them or to describe their actions. Thus, a user can always check how a button will act before activating it. Buttons may also be activated from a keyboard. (In fact, virtually all Hyperbole operations, including menu usage, may be performed from any standard character terminal interface, so one need not be anchored to a workstation all day). See section 4. Smart Keys.

Hyperbole does not enforce any particular hypertext or information management model, but instead allows you to organize your information in large or small chunks as you see fit. The Hyperbole outliner organizes information hierarchies which may also contain links to external information sources.

Some of Hyperbole's most important features include:

• Buttons may link to information or may execute procedures, such as starting or communicating with external programs;

• One simply drags between a button source location and a link destination to create or to modify a link button. The same result can be achieved from the keyboard.

• Buttons may be embedded within electronic mail messages;

• Outlines allow rapid browsing, editing and movement of chunks of information organized into trees (hierarchies);

• Other hypertext and information retrieval systems may be encapsulated under a Hyperbole user interface (a number of samples are provided).

Typical Hyperbole applications include:

personal information management

Overlapping link paths provide a variety of views into an information space. A search facility locates buttons in context and permits quick selection.

documentation and code browsing

Cross-references may be embedded within documentation. One can add a point-and-click interface to existing documentation, link code with associated design documents, or jump to the definition of an identifier by selecting its name within code or documentation.

brainstorming

The Hyperbole outliner, See section 7. Outliner, is an effective tool for capturing ideas and then quickly reorganizing them in a meaningful way. Links to related ideas are easy to create, eliminating the need to copy and paste information into a single place.

help/training systems

Tutorials containing buttons can show students how things work while explaining the concepts, e.g. an introduction to local commands. This technique can be much more effective than written documentation alone.

archive managers

Programs that manage archives from incoming information streams may be supplemented by having them add topic-based buttons that link to the archive holdings. Users can then search and create their own links to archive entries.