Gates and Signposts

The more wild a garden's vistas, the more important it is to assure visitors that this is not a wilderness. This assurance is not merely a guarantee of safety and comfort, but also prepares visitors to enjoy the planner's art.

In hypertexts, embedded and irregular links suggest the wildness of nature, where thumb tabs, lists, and menus all suggest the order of planning. Order, too, is suggested by links that explain themselves -- either through explicit annotation, or through pop-ups, mouseover messages, or balloon titles.