CONTENT STRUCTURES CREATED BY LINKS
Different content "nodes" and the links between them form a "web" of related ideas (Jonassen, 1989). These webs can take on at least three different structures with various benefits and pitfalls: linear, hierarchical, and web (see Yale Style Manual). Linear hypermedia structures are created with straight-forward links from one screen of information to the next, typically in a loop. Hierarchical structures are subdivided into major topic headings, each with a link to underlying screens of information. Linear and hierarchical structures are useful for providing the learner with an expert-like model of content. They suggest how content items are related.

Web structures are more random, and allow the learner to explore and gradually build their own model or understanding for how content items are related. Web structures are thought to be similar in form to how knowledge is stored in our long-term, semantic memory with multiple connections running to and from a specific memory or concept (Kearsley, 1988; Dede, 1987; Dede, 1992). So while web structures may be more confusing than hierarchical structures, learning through them has been shown to promote the development of personal cognitive structures that are "flexible" and transferable to multiple tasks (Jacobson & Spiro, 1995).