Modeling the dynamic behavior of hypermedia applications

Hypermedia applications can be defined as collections of interactive and mu ltimedia documents that are organized as a hypertext net. The development o f hypermedia applications poses specific problems, such as the need for mod eling sophisticated navigational structures, interactive behaviors, and har monic presentations involving the synchronization of contents. Moreover, th e increasing popularity of Internet-based systems has put stress on the lac k of mechanisms to formally specify security policies when designing hyperm edia applications. Traditional design models and methodologies are not suit able for hypermedia applications and the up-to-now developed hypermedia-ori ented models do not cover the whole set of design needs. In this context, w e present Labyrinth, a hypermedia-oriented model providing formal elements to describe the static structure and dynamic behavior of this kind of nonli near, multisensory, and interactive applications.