Text Menu

In The Changing Room weaves stories of eight characters together with a default (next) and an embedded text anchor navigation schemes.

Iconic navigation

In The Changing Room uses symbols and colors to signify each of the eight characters.

A graphic anchor for the next nodes along a default path. The default path follows first one character and then another and the next symbol changes to alert the reader about who is coming up next. The default choice will vary based on what the reader has already seen. This uses the Connection Muse [116] to follow the reader's choices and to determine which anchor to offer next. At times a dancer will also appear to lead back to the choir of characters so that readers can chose another character to follow.

Screenshot used by permission.

The home page and title on each character node provides the explanation for each symbol. Readers are thus introduced to the characters symbolically, and know them by picture rather than name, like a cocktail party without the name tags. While the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children [58] also explains its symbol structure, the Royal Institute's symbols are denotative and do not relate directly back to the content of the category. Here, symbols also function connotatively to provide an insight into the characters' inner psyches: Rita has misplaced her soul and is flying to look for it, Hank has misplaced his gravity and hangs upside down, and Elizabeth is horrified as she watches Gifford fade away.

Screenshot used by permission.

This screen of Rita will default to a new Rita screen:

Screenshot used by permission.

But this screen about Rita will skip now to Elizabeth's story as we see the anchor icon for Elizabeth:

Screenshot used by permission.

This interweaving default line lets readers continue to explore the connections between characters. Unlike Ferris Wheels [33], this work does not provide a backwards option.

Embedded text anchors

As Craven instructs: Click on an underlined word, and the stories will merge and take new form."

A subtle text navigation (click on an underlined word to follow thematic connections).

Screenshot used by permission.

The unvisited underlined word anchors are a lighter grey, visited anchors darker grey, and text black. This subtle gradation provides more of a visual continuity than changing colors in a moderate, or standard, web screen would, thus allowing the reader to follow the story more than the links, or to, as Craven invites us: "Glide your cursor like a pointer on a Ouija board." The curser points to anchors, which do not yield but rather point to mystical connections and insights. The Pines at Walden Pond [39] and s echo this textual simplicity with similar connotative effects.

However, when the reader mouses over the anchors, they turn red and the overall subtle quality of the screen is broken.