At 06:12 99/03/18 +0100, you wrote:
> Web publishing works in my opinion at this moment best for data which is
> like an encyclopedia or a phone book, etc. Are there people who like to read
> this kind of material from end to end? I doubt it.
 
That's why there's an index.
 
>
> Web pages which offer this kind of publication, mostly  contain searching
> possibilities for making the selections to your liking. That's (imho) an
> enormous improvement compared to having all that bookshelve space eaten up
> with telephone books, complete Zoological Records (mollusca section) and
> such. I rather put some nice shell books there !!
 
Half the taxonomical confusion that arises every year is caused by people
who can't be bothered to check the existing literature before adding some
of their own. As I found out myself, to make the jump from being a
collector who just labels and arranges specimens to an author who publishes
papers with taxonomical consequences requires a considerable investment in
literature and networking with fellow authors. Those big, heavy books can
be searched just as easily as a website via their indices; the difference
is that (at least at present) one has to take account of what has been
written on paper in compiling one's own work, but web material can be ignored.