hypertext

hypertext, technique for organizing computer databases or documents to facilitate the nonsequential retrieval of information. Related pieces of information are connected by preestablished or user-created links that allow a user to follow associative trails across the database. The linked data may be in a text, graphic, audio, or video format, allowing for multimedia presentations; when more formats than text are linked together, the technique is often referred to as

hypermedia. Hypertext applications offer a variety of tools for very rapid searches for specific information; they are particularly useful for working with voluminous amounts of text, as are found in an encyclopedia or a repair and maintenance manual. See also information storage and retrieval; World Wide Web.

Bibliography

See G. P. Landow, ed., Hyper/Text/Theory (1994); J. A. Lennon, Hypermedia Systems and Applications: World Wide Web and Beyond (1997); D. Lowe and W. Hall, Hypermedia and the Web: An Engineering Approach (1999).

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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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A linkage between related information. By selecting a word in an article, more information about that subject is retrieved, which could be a definition, encyclopedic entry or another article. Hypertext is the foundation of the World Wide Web, enabling users to click on a link to obtain more information from a source anywhere in the world.

The hypertext concept was conceived by Ted Nelson in the mid-1960s as a method for making the computer respond to the way humans think and require information. It took the Web to exploit that concept.

Predefined or Virtual
Most Web links are fixed ahead of time. Text links are typically underlined, while a graphic link (hypergraphic) can be a small icon or graphic element of any size. "Virtual hypertext" is also used, which allows a user to click on any word on a page and see a definition (see virtual hypertext).

The terms "hypertext," "hyperlink," and "link" are used synonymously. See hypermedia.

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(hypertext)

hypertext - A term coined by Ted Nelson around 1965 for a collection of documents (or "nodes") containing cross-references or "links" which, with the aid of an interactive browser program, allow the reader to move easily from one document to another. The extension of hypertext to include other media - sound, graphics, and video - has been termed "hypermedia", but is usually just called "hypertext", especially since the advent of the World-Wide Web and HTML.