AbstractThe design of instructional texts is an area of educational technology which is attracting considerable interest, much of it centered on the display of information and on student‐text interaction. This article discusses whether techniques found useful in text design can be transposed to the display of CAL materials. Each medium has its problems and advantages; at present, little is directly transferable from one medium to the other. The computer‐presented ‘dynamic book’ concept provides an example of how to combine giving learners control over the presentation with book‐style indexing and