The content of the document 'Constitution adopted by the Heads of State and
Government, (
CIG
87/2/04)' is hereby presented as a hypertextual
version in order to
make the highly interrelated texts easier accessible. The Explanatory note contains two sections:
Hypertext coverage and
Screen captures with short explanations
Hypertext coverage
The hypertext covers:
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe with four main parts:
Part I with 60 Articles, numbered as I-1 to I-60.
Part II with 54 Articles, numbered as II-61 to II-114.
Part III with 322 Articles, numbered as III-115 to III-436.
Part IV with 12 Articles, numbered as IV-437 to IV-448.
In addition there are:
38
Protocols listed
under A. Protocols annexed to the Treaty establishing a Constitution
for Europe, and with 423 Articles in total. 50 Declarations annexed to the
Final Act of the
Intergovernmental Conference and the
Final Act. I have extracted the texts from these documents and revised them into smaller and
interconnected segments. The main segments
are available from the Table of Contents
in the left window pane. In addition, there is an expanded Table of Contents available
from the upper right corner in each display. This expanded table contains 1 322 entries
to all segments and Articles. The hypertext spanning over the texts from the documents
listed above, are furnished with 2 008 hyperlinks in accordance with the cross-
references in the original texts.
Screen captures with short explanations
Figure 1
The header section with the title 'A Constitution
for Europe' is a static item and is present
in all screen displays. The logo is as specified in 'Graphics handbook'.In the upper right corner
of each display, there are two links:
Front Section will lead
you to the display shown in figure 1 below.
Table of Contents is an
expanded version of the list shown in the left pane (see figure 5
below). It contains an ordered list of entry points to the 1 322 segments to the content
extracted from the document set CIG 87/2/04 shortly presented above in the section
‘Hypertext Coverage’. If you are interested to see the text in one specific Article, it will be
most convenient to locate it from this expanded content list
The table of contents in the left window pane
is expandable. These entries are marked
with the folder symbol and '+' (plus). When expanded, the folder is marked with a green
arrow and '-' (minus). In figure 1, the folder
Part III is expanded to show the next level; here the seven Titles of
Part III, and the five Chapters of Title III.
When the cursor is placed
above an entry, the entry changes colour and the whole entry
text appears in a pop-up box (useful for long entries that are truncated in the left pane,
and these entries are marked with suspension points [...]).
Hypertextual links in the text pane are marked
as underlined in a colour different from the
surrounding text (here 'state blue'). The link colour changes into ‘dark salmon’ when you
place the cursor above a link. The hover colour is the same colour as the line under the
blue header section. 
The name of the current display is given above
the light grey line in the text pane (in
figure 1 the current display is 'Front Section'). Two navigation 'buttons' are placed in the
right corner 'Previous' and 'Next'. At the bottom of each display, there is a button for
moving to the top of a display. In addition you can apply the net browser's navigation
buttons 'Back' and 'Forward'.
Figure
2
Because the content in these documents are
divided into levels of Titles, Chapters,
Sections, Subsections and Articles, I found it necessary to include 'local' content
overviews. These are placed within coloured lines, and they supplement the navigational
options available in the left pane and Table of Contents.Similar lines enclose added
information, e.g. information about links or explanations
related to the hypertextual structure.
Figure
3
All cross-references between Articles or other
segments are realized as hypertextual
links. In the figure below, a link to the Article III-300 is activated (change of colour), which
is then displayed as shown in figure 4 below. The hypertext includes
1008 links, which indicates to what extent the Articles are
interrelated. This extensive set of hypertextual links supports immediate access to
referenced Articles (or Titles, Chapters, etc). In my opinion, these navigational options
are quite a relief compared to following cross-references in documents prepared for print
(as for instance the format PDF).
The link set is checked,
but if you should enter into a detached link, you may return to the
link start by using ‘Back’ in your browser. If you discover errors in the link set, please
inform me by e-mail: brit.helle@aksis.uib.no.
The information given above the light grey
line shows your position in the hypertext. In
figure 3 below, it is shown that Article III-329 is in Chapter VIII of Title V of Part III of the
Constitution. The underlined items function as hypertextual links - in this case you may
for example return to Title V.
Figure
4
When a cross-reference to an Article is activated,
the Article header is shown in the top
of a display.
By using 'Back' in your browser, you will
return to the link start, in this case Article III-300
shown in figure 3 above.
Figure
5
The screen capture below shows a subset of the 1 322 entries in the fully expanded
Table of Contents.
The current selection is Section 5 in Protocol number 8. When activated, the colour
turns into a darker nuance, and remains in this new colour when you return from Section
5 and until you have made a new selection.
