This diagram represents the overall organization of the document(*). Each of the topics available at the first level of the figure are accessible from the Title Page (the zeroth level) while nodes(*) underneath each of the first level nodes reflects nodes that are accessible from these nodes. Only the nodes from the Guide are expanded to the second level in the diagram. The heavy lines show connections between nodes that are enumerated via index files, normally consisting of lists. For example, the node Guide in the figure consists of a list of twelve links(*) introducing each of the individual architectures introduced in the document. The dotted lines represent contextual links(*). These are used only to suggest the type of links that exist, not any particular explicit links. In particular, in the diagram, there are links connecting specific architectures to Theories, Properties, Capabilities, etc., links connecting Properties to Capabilities and Capabilities to Environments, and links between architectures (Soar to Theo in the diagram). Not shown in the figure are contextual links within an architecture (See Architecture Organization for these details). Individual links are uni-directional although, for the most part, within the document there will be a link at a destination node leading back to the original (source) node.
The actual number of links in the document will be much more dense than that represented in the diagram. These in the diagram are used to demonstrate that the hierarchical organization does not enforce a particular reading pattern since following its links can lead to far-distant nodes in the hierarchy. The chief benefit of the overall organization is to aid users in navigation. This becomes particularly important when users make use of contextual links and do find themselves in new portions of the document. The Current Location markers at the bottom of each node reflect this hierarchical organization and inform users where the current node resides in the hierarchy. For instance, the marker below indicates that this node is a third-level node, its parent node "Navigation of the Cognitive Architectures Document" and that node's parent "Reader's Guide". The Title Page, as the single, zeroth-level node, is implicit in the hierarchy even though it is not explicit in the Current Location marker.
*: The terms node, link, document, contextual, and non-contextual are defined in a separate node.
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