Abstract
The thesis investigates how narrative techniques or a narrative form can support the design of political websites. The emphasis is on how known dilemmas, related to narrative and new media, can be resolved in the context of how these websites are designed today. Theoretically, this thesis explores two solutions to three dilemmas; variability contra wholeness, variability contra intention and variability contra immersion. The first solution is about "readers narrative" and the second solution is about "intelligent interfaces". Having criticized these two solutions, the thesis briefly explores a third alternative: narrative information architectures.
Interviews with professionals responsible for the design of Norwegian political parties websites, and an analysis of these sites, supports the claim that there are almost no use of narrative elements on these sites today. A prototype is developed to investigate how a narrative website could be designed, and how users respond to this design. The prototype is based on the accordeon or string-of-pearls document structure with restricted navigation and have been is evaluated alongside an ordinary political website. The users preferred conventional or semantic constraints rather than technical or spatial. They appreciated the narrative structure of the prototype, not the restricted navigation.