Five Standing : A Communal Hyper Fiction

To enter 'five|standing', click on the portal link below.
>enter< Before you enter, however, I suggest you read the rest of this page, which provides information that could enhance your reading experience.

The product of five individuals, this 'hypertext' contains five distinct and independently produced narratives. Brought together through the employment of computer technology, it is possible to read each as an independent fiction, or as part of a wider conglomeration of narrative. Narratives intersect, collide, share ideas and concepts, creating a complex web where seperate and distinct stories come together to present a gestalt, a new form born of five others. Depending upon the choices you make, you will find either a single narrative, a group of independent stories, or a tangled web of interconnected narratives. You are in control.

In an attempt to simplify what could become an extremely confusing and frustrating reading experience, we have attempted to provided a variety of navigation aids for your use.
Initially, we have included a screen which, while apparently a part of the wider narrative, allows you to choose whether you wish to read each narrative individually, or all five together. Presenting two hyperlinks - 'together' and 'apart' - this page is self-explanatory. Once you have navigated this screen, you will enter 'five|standing' proper. The content of the two 'versions' (independent or linked narratives) is almost identicle, the independent version differing only in that all hyperlinks lead to other parts of the same narrative - there are no links to the other four 'stories' as in the fully combined version.
Secondly, at the bottom of each page there is a drop-down menu. This simple tool provides an easy-to-access list of every link on the page. So, if you cannot be bothered to select a word in the main body of text, you can select it's mirror in the drop-menu.
Thirdly, we have placed 'forward' and 'back' buttons on each page, allowing quick and easy navigation. Clicking on the 'forward' button takes you to the next page of the narrative, following a logical chronological order, and so providing a conventional reading experience. It is more rewarding to explore the text as a true hyperfiction, however, in which case you should simply click on any link within a page.
The 'back' button is most useful when you examine 'five|standing' in it's interlinked 'together' form. As you progress through the tangle of narratives, you may become disoriented, losing the particular story you were following. If this happens, and you wish to retreat to the narrative you had been reading, simply click on the 'back' button. This button does not depend upon a logical order of pages, instead moving one step back according to the route you have taken.
If, despite these navigational aids, you still become disoriented, we have included 'signposts' denoting which particular narrative each page belongs to. We have assigned each narrative a particular symbol, as shown below:

These are hidden, however, so that if you wish you may piece together the narratives without our guidance. However, if you do wish to see which narrative a particular page relates to, simply roll the mouse-pointer over the top left corner of the page - the coloured symbol will appear.

Although hyperfiction usually comes in the form of written text, we have attempted to develop the 'genre' through the inclusion of images. An entire narrative - 'one|dies' - is constructed around a series of twenty-five snapshots. Together these photographs tell an interesting yet disturbing tale, which, true to the central characteristic of hyperfiction, can be read in a number of ways. Due to the lack of text, we have employed image-mapping techniques to provide links to other pages. It does not matter if you do not know what 'image-mapping' is - all you need to know is that certain areas of the photographs have been converted into links. Roll your mouse pointer over each image, and you will be able to identify and select various links to other pages. Simple, yet effective.