The following texts are a snapshot of the source code circa September 2007.
Hypertextopia is a four-language platform. It uses
Ruby (on
Rails) to describe the shape of the site, and the basic interactions among objects. It uses
XHTML as the skeleton of interaction, and
CSS lays out the appearance.
Javascript (including the Canvas) defines many of the interactions that authors and readers can perform on the site.
So don't worry if the source seems to be speaking different idioms all mixed together — it is.
Rails is organized around a design pattern called
"Model, View, Controller." MVC is a generalized division of labor that can be useful as a basic template for web applications. The models are the data objects themselves, and all of the things that the data knows how to do, itself. The controllers load, manipulate, and save the models in the database. They flow actions to and from the authors and readers, acting as the intermediate glue. The views are collections of templates, half Ruby, half HTML, which are filled in with data by the controllers and handed off to the readers and authors.
