What’s the right level of supporting detail to include in a given piece of writing?  This is a question that has bedeviled writers for virtually as long as there has been writing.  It has always been a difficult balancing act to include enough specifics to satisfy a skeptical reader, while at the same time keeping the exposition moving forward briskly enough to avoid boring a more impatient one.

The traditional printing process contributes to this problem, because it requires that large numbers of people see exactly the same thing.  (One size has to fit all.)

By contrast, with new electronic exposition techniques, each reader can choose for himself the exact level of detail he wants to see.  He can skim some points without fear of missing anything he would consider significant, then delve into other points at the most minute level of detail.

The material thus becomes tailored to each individual reader’s interests and tastes.  The writer is no longer forced to try to make one size fit all.