Simple table of contents, glossary, and appendix

I started to learn English as a second language when I was 8 years old. Then I started to learn Japanese when I was in middle school. Back in time, there were not many hypertexts or hypermedia available. All we had were traditional textbooks. I still remember the English textbooks we used were called “Let’s go!” I still have a clear image of the level one textbook cover, which has a red background, bolded title “LET’S GO!” and happy-looking children on it. My Japanese textbook cover was with large Japanese characters (Genki) outlined in green on a white background.

Then I remember the table of contents, glossary, and appendix in those textbooks. If I needed to look for grammatical explanations on past tense, I go to the chapter where we learned about “My weekend with my family.” I knew on that particular page, there were a timeline and a box explaining the concept of past tense. However, I just don’t remember the page number. Thus, I went to the table of contents to look for the page number.  Moreover, I would use the glossary to look up information quickly. I would also use appendix for a quick reference.

I found having a table of contents at the front, a glossary and an appendix at the end goes hand in hand. In between are knowledge and information. It is simple.

I would imagine that a table of contents is a navigation bar on the left, which contents hyperlinks to specific chapters. It hides while users read, and appeals when mouse slides through it. A glossary can be embedded throughout the text. For example, users can place their mouse on phrases and definitions will pop up in small windows. These windows will fade out as their mouse move away from phrases.