Making Your Own
Hyperlinked Documents
Introduction
Outline
In order to change and
existing document or make a new document you must use a word processor. With
this word processor you create a web document in which you can assign major
categories within your information so that you can move easily from one part of
the document to another location either within the document moving to another
document or graphic. When you wish to land
at a specific word or phrase in the text you assign that location a Bookmark. The site in the text from which you jump to
the bookmark is termed a Hyperlink.
The essence of navigation and information retrieval in your document
lies with effective use of bookmarks and hyperlinks. The small screen of the PDA affords only tunnel vision when
looking at text; thus hyperlinks must be in place to move this tiny spotlight
to desired areas within the document.
This brief tutorial makes use of Microsoft Word® as
the means of getting the data in, but any text editor capable of producing an
.html document (such as Open Office) will work in the same way. We will assume that you have done this by
typing, dictation, text recognition or speech recognition, or that you are
working on a pre-existing file imported into the word processor. Your sources may be multiple and will be
integrated as you organize your thoughts on the topic. You may be using another source of
organization which particularly appealed to you. This tutorial covers creation of the topic of Proteinuria in
Primary Care. The topic suggested
itself after I had listened to and Audio Digest® tape, which I thought
organized the topic well for me.
Original material was from 1992, and it has been updated over the years
to remain current. Subsequently the
topic of Metabolic Syndrome was added when the subheading of Screening
was expanded. Because I have always had
trouble remembering the criteria for identification of this very common
problem, I chose to add a hyperlink to the definition of Metabolic Syndrome.
Step 1: Outline
Organize the topic into headings and subheadings
which represent areas of text to which you might wish to refer quickly.
Step 2: Text Insertion
Insert the information into the organized framework
to include all of the material you wish to reference. At this stage it can be useful to make your main headings and subheadings
bold so that hyperlinks are more easily seen.
You may wish to italicize or underline other text for emphasis. Although it is possible to dress up the text
with multiple font sizes, colours and types, this practice can produce
unexpected results. It is recommended
that you leave your font as an easily read Arial or Times New Roman and rely on
color, bold, underline or italic for emphasis.
Other formatting such as left justified or centered are done
automatically by the text reader to fit the smaller screen. It is possible to indent and assign numbers
or bullets for clarity, but remember that you lose some screen when doing
so. A single level of indentation is
probably as much as is practical, and often no indentation at all is acceptable
with adequate space between sections.
Bullets and numbers can also be added without indentation.
Step 3: Bookmarks
Insert Bookmarks. These are areas of text you might wish to jump to when looking
for different aspects of the topic. Remember
that you will be viewing this material on a small screen, and that all that may
be visible is the initial menu. Even if
you can see the topic you wish to jump to on the computer screen, it is
important to place a bookmark for use on the smaller PDA screen. In the example, I might wish to find
microalbuminuria quickly. I set a
bookmark here for later reference.
Bookmarks must be text only.
Numbers or symbols may result in very strange links. To insert a bookmark, set your cursor at the
desired site, then click Insert + Bookmark. The dialogue box will allow you to give this bookmark a
name. It needs to be unique so that you
will recognize it. After typing in a
name, click Add.
Step 4: Hyperlinks
Insert Hyperlinks. These are sites in the text from which you will jump to other
parts of the text previously labelled as bookmarks. Highlight the text you wish to represent the hyperlink. Click on Insert + Hyperlink + Bookmark. This will give you a list of all your
bookmarks. Select the bookmark desired
and click OK + OK. The selected
text will be colored and underlined (if this is the option you have selected in
Word for hyperlinks). The Palm version
of the topic will automatically display all hyperlinks underlined. Hyperlinks can also be made to entirely
separate files. In this case the file
can be selected with Insert + Hyperlink + File , and a browse can be
made to locate the file desired. In an
especially long document you may wish to have different aspects of the topic
contained in different files, although housekeeping can become a problem if you
try to move these files out of the folder containing the document with the hyperlinks calling these files. Test all your hyperlinks.
Step 5: Other Links
Insert other links.
There are many other areas of text which need to be linked other than
main headings. In this example the
limitations and implications of dipstick testing may have been missed by
jumping immediately to the topic of overt proteinuria. The link allows this cross-reference to be
made if desired. Similarly, a graphic
such as an ECG may be a link destination for many parts of the text referencing
different aspects of change in the ECG tracing.
Step 6: Graphics and Tables
The text reader can link to .jpg, .gif and other
graphics files. Hyperlinks to these
files are made in exactly the same way.
The graphic itself, however, may have to be manipulated in a graphics
editor in order to be properly presented for the PDA screen. Since these screens differ in resolution,
this may take some trial and error effort.
If the image is too large for the PDA screen, scroll bars will appear to
allow visualization of the entire graphic
(see Example 1). Tables in the text may have to be formatted
for the small screen as well (see Example 2).
Step 7: Flowcharts
Flowcharts are especially useful in summation of a
medical investigation. These are
usually represented as graphics or figures, however in this format they are
difficult to follow if one has to scroll around the screen to follow a specific
path. An alternative is to use
hyperlinks. Each box in the flowchart
can be contained on a separate page of the document. You can then represent each branch of the flowchart as a set of
hyperlinks (eg. < 50 gm protein / > 50 gm protein), and link each branch
to the appropriate path, which has been previously bookmarked. In the proteinuria document the Evaluation
+ Flow Sheet hyperlinks lead to one of these flow charts, which one follows
by selection of hyperlinks (Example 3).
Step 8: Creation of an HTML Document
The document you have just created is a Word®
document with a .doc extension. You
need to make this into a document formatted for a web browser. This is done by saving this document as a
web page. Click File + Save As +
Save As Type:. This will give you a
dialog box with a drop-down list at the bottom. Select the Web Page (*.htm; *.html) option, and in the
space immediately above, name the file.
It can have the same name as the .doc file, as it will have a .htm
extension. Double clicking on the file
with the new extension now brings your work up in your browser. You can port this file directly to your PDA
using iSiloX®, which will queue the file for installation during your next
HotSync. If you have other files
labelled .htm or .html , or graphics files which are linked to the main file as
hyperlinks, these files must be loaded into iSilo® at the same time and in the
same manner. iSilo® then creates a .pdb
file which is useable by the Palm platform.
Step 9: Editing or Updating
Your .htm file cannot be edited in the browser, but
can be edited if loaded back into Word®.
The top toolbar will usually give you this option. If it does not, you can open Word® and open
the .htm file directly. After changing,
remember to check to be sure it is being saved as an .htm file. When you exit Word®, the old version of the
browser will still be on the screen. Do
not work further with this screen, as it does not contain your
changes. Either refresh the screen or
exit and reload the file before making further changes.
This tutorial is specific for making documents for
the Palm Pilot® using iSilo® as a text reader.
The same text reader, or another program that can handle hyperlinks, can
be used to port to the Pocket PC® format, although the author has no
familiarity with the latter devices. If
care is taken to keep all associated files together in the same folder, it
should be possible to read the material in the browser of the Pocket PC® as
well.