hyperlink

hypertext

 or hyperlink

Linking of related information by electronic connections in order to allow a user easy access between them. Conceptualized by Vannevar Bush (1945) and invented by Douglas Engelbart in the 1960s, hypertext is a feature of some computer programs that allows the user to select a word and receive additional information, such as a definition or related material. In Internet browsers, hypertext links (hotlinks) are usually denoted by highlighting a word or phrase with a different font or colour. Hypertext links create a branching or network structure that permits direct, unmediated jumps to related information. Hypertext has been used most successfully as an essential feature of the World Wide Web (see HTML; HTTP). Hyperlinks may also involve objects other than text (e.g., selecting a small picture may provide a link to a larger version of the same picture).

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hyperlink

A predefined linkage between one object and another. See hypertext.

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hyperlink

a word, phrase, picture, icon, etc., in a computer document on which a user may click to move to another part of the document or to another document

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hyperlink [′hī·pər‚liŋk]

(computer science)

A highlighted word, phrase, or image in the display of a computer document which, when chosen, connects the user to another part of the same document or to different document (text, image, audio, video, or animation). In electronic documents, these cross references can be followed by a mouse click, and the target of the hyperlink may be on a physically distant computer connected by a network or the Internet.

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hyperlink - anchor