DECENTERED: A hypertextual text has no fixed center; rather, its center keeps shifting as the reader pursues various links and trains of thought.

Example: A few days ago I went to CNN' online site and read an article about recent negotiations between Palestine and Israel. The article mentioned the responses of the Arab press to the recent development. At the end of the document was a link to the Saudi Gazette's web site. Clicking on the link takes me to the Saudi Gazette. Neither text is given more weight than the other, and the center of this hypertext document is no longer CNN's report on peace negotiations. It shifts, with one click, from CNN to the Saudi Gazette. The Saudi Gazette is no longer a supplement or a reference; in accordance with what I, the reader, was interested in at the time, I made it the new center.