Basic question on Links and Architecture

So here is my question.  I reiterate that I am at the very beginning in web
design (slowly working my way through the beginner's pages, and providing my
insight as I go), so I apologize in advance if I am asking what appears
obvious or is already done, but as I wend my way through the pages, I notice
that there are no links to the next or previous page in a series.  It's
always back to the overlying topic and down the tree to the next.

So I am wondering if there is not some kind of dynamic linking system that
can be used to automatically generate links and keep them updated.  I am
thinking here of a decimal type classification system, contained in a site
architecture table to keep everything in order, something like this.

Page title, Code, link text
Index	 	 0    <I would make only the zero obligatory for the index>
About 	 1
 History 	1.1
 Today 	1.2
 Future 	1.3
Our People 	 2
 The Owners	2.1
 Developers	2.2
Links		 5
Classes 	 4
 Beginners	4.1
    Young  4.1.1
    Older  4.1.2

etc.

Then, when a page calls for the next page, it would reference the table, see
which number is next, and populate the next page link accordingly.  To add a
page, say Yesterday in About, I can call it 1.15, or the wiki can ask me
where I want to put it and assign a number.  New subsections would just add
a decimal point, for instance Early History 1.1.1 , Later History 1.1.2, and
so on.

And then of course there would be some kind of cross-link structure to allow
linking to different branches and at different levels, and verification
system so that if a linked page is deleted, a warning would be set up so
that the link could be updated or removed as appropriate.

I would guess there are systems out there than can achieve this purpose.  Is
there any reason we don't apply one?  Or is this just code not appropriate
for an HTML document?

Happy Week,

David R. Herz
wpd@theherzes.com

Received on Monday, 15 April 2013 08:47:58 UTC