Linear StructureA linear structure refers to the sequential writing style found in a plain text document or in certain types of books such as novels. It differs from the non-sequential organization of information in a hypertext document.
When reading a novel or a short story, the pages must normally be read from the first to the last in order to comprehend the whole meaning. The information is thus presented in a linear fashion. Unlike literature, text books can be read in a non-linear style by choosing preferred chapters and looking up meanings and explanations of certain terms and subjects in other parts of the document. The content of a hypertext document is organized more like a text book than a novel, which is to say it is structured non-linearly. Hypertext links allow a user to jump from one spot to another on the same document, or even to other linked documents, such as text, graphic, video, or sound files. The links are established by the author of the hypertext document. This associative method of presenting information is closer to the way our minds organize new material than the linear structure.