Hypertext Principle #2
Just because you can make links with HTML doesn't mean that you should...

OR

Just because you have the HTML hammer, it doesn't mean that every word is a nail.


A representation of 122 first-level links of a web site, where HOME is at the center.  This is from a site with the following characteristics:

Number of links:  122
Scroll length:  5 pages
Number of distinct regions:  17
Number of things that flash:  8
Number of graphical links:  17
Number of words:  880

It gets worse when we look at the first two levels of links on the same site:


The small circle in the middle of Figure 2 is Figure 1.
Shading is formed by links from one node to another.
There are approximately 5,000 jumps in a scroll
1,000+ pages containing 700,000+ words.
Aside from the spontaneous growth in our capacity for amazement, there are several observations we can make:

There are too many things to keep track of. Human beings typically keep from five to nine things in short-term memory. This site has way more.
It's improbable that anyone will understand the site's structure. Its 17 distinct areas cannot be seen   simultaneously.
It is too big, too fragmented, and too busy.
Destination pages are equally busy, causing loss of context.
There are so many words and links that it is impossible to make semantic connections.