This study explores the complicated nature of the interface as a mediational tool for inexperienced writers as they composed hypertext documents. Because technology can become so quickly and inextricably connected to people's everyday lives, it is essential to explore the effects on these technologies before they become invisible. Because inexperienced users are more likely to struggle with the software as they learn to use it, the argument can be made that following the composing processes of such writers--neophytes who are initially learning to use, but have not yet become familiar with the software interface--would reveal more about how such easy-to-use interfaces mediate composing processes. One major hypothesis of this study was that treating the interface as transparent ("masking") can encourage the development of a narrow literacy of limited usefulness. That is, masking can encourage the development of Web-composing literacy that is isolated to a specific interface and ultimately prevents the development of "transferable" technological literacy. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)