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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hypertext

A linkage between related information. Hypertext is the foundation of the World Wide Web, enabling users to click on a link to obtain more information on a subsequent page on the same site or from a Web site anywhere in the world. Hypertext is the umbrella term for all links, whether appearing as text (word, phrase or sentence) or as an icon or other graphical element, the latter technically called a "hypergraphic." The terms "hypertext," "hyperlink" and "link" are also used synonymously. See hypermedia, live link and virtual hypertext.

The term was coined by Ted Nelson in 1963. However, his vision was much more expansive than the one-way links of today's Web. Nelson proposed two-way linking and support for non-hierarchical organization (for more information, visit www.xanadu.com).

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hypertext

computer software and hardware that allows users to create, store, and view text and move between related items easily and in a nonsequential way; a word or phrase can be selected to link users to another part of the same document or to a different document

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hypertext [′hī·pər‚tekst]

(computer science)

A data structure in which there are links between words, phrases, graphics, or other elements and associated information so that selection of a key object can activate a linkage and reveal the information.

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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.