The merging of technology and literature is often described as a progression. We assume that because the scope of literature is expanding, so too must the quality of it expand. That’s simply not true, especially in the short term. As writers broaden their perspective, they lose focus on the forms of literature that have been proven to work for years. By changing the format, hypertext writers have a dual responsibility: to create a quality format and to create a quality text. Novelists, for example need only create a quality text, and simply have more resources to space for this singular task.
That’s not to say that there hasn’t been progress within hypertextual literature, but that it hasn’t had an opportunity to narrow its manifestations down to a few workable formats that can convey the message of the author most effectively. Once that has been done, hypertext can bring real progression to the popular conception of literature. But until then, it will remain a fairly unpopular form of art.