The text as unlimited
A hypertext is not limited in the sense that a book is. Only certain information can be included in a linear argument. The network organization allows for multiple arguments to branch out. The reader can choose to read only one of the lines of thought, or explore all (or even none) of them. Hypertext, especially hypertext displayed on the World Wide Web, also allows the reader to access information that is not a part of the text proper. Links and connections can be made "out" of the document and into related materials, written by others. This makes us rethink not only the definition of texts (as singular items with a single author) but also reduces the control of (and respect for) the author. As we widen the scope of what is meant by text, it is difficult to know where to stop. Landow relates Foucault's discussion on this topic, saying "one can remove limits on textuality, permitting it to expand, until Neitzsche, the edifying philosopher, becomes equally the author of The Gay Science and laundry lists and other such trivia-as indeed he was"(Landow, 74).
Texts are also constrained by limits of pages that can be easily bound or carried around. Hypertexts, in this sense, are even more constrained-they can only be read on a computer. But as computers get smaller and smaller, soon it will probably be possible to take your laptop outside and read a hypertext under a tree as easily as you can read a print novel.
The distance between reader and author