Structural distinctions between hypermedia storage and presentation

In order to facilitate adaptability of hypermedia documents a distinction is often made between the underlying conceptual structure of a document and the structure of its presentation. This distinction enables greater variety in how a presentation can be adapted to best convey these underlying concepts in a given situation. What is often confusing for those applying this distinction is that although both levels of structure often share similar components: transformation form the storage of a document to its presentation sometimes occurs directly between these similar components and sometimes does not These similarities typically fall in the categories of space, time and relationships between document portions. This paper identifies some primary similarities between the structure of hypermedia storage and presentation. It also explores how the transformation from storage to presentation often does not follow these similarities. This discussion is illustrated with the Fiets hypermedia application, which addresses the issues of storage, presentation and transformation using public domain formats and tools. The intention is to help authors who separate storage from presentation to better understand this distinction.