hypertext

hypertext
/huy"peuhr tekst'/, n.
a method of storing data through a computer program that allows a user to create and link fields of information at will and to retrieve the data nonsequentially.
[1970-75]

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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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also called  Hyperlinking,  

      the linking of related pieces of information by electronic connections in order to allow a user easy access between them. Hypertext is a feature of some computer programs that allow the user of electronic media to select a word from text and receive additional information pertaining to that word, such as a definition or related references within the text. In the article “whale” in an electronic encyclopedia, for example, a hypertext link at the mention of the blue whale enables the reader to access the article on that species merely by “clicking” on the words “blue whale” with a mouse. The hypertext link is usually denoted by highlighting the relevant word or phrase in text with a different font or colour. Hypertext links can also connect text with pictures, sounds, or animated sequences.

      Hypertext links between different parts of a document or between different documents create a branching or network structure that can accommodate direct, unmediated jumps to pieces of related information. The treelike structure of hyperlinked information contrasts with the linear structure of a print encyclopaedia or dictionary, for example, whose contents can be physically accessed only by means of a static, linear sequence of entries in alphabetical order. Hypertext links are, in a sense, text cross-references that afford instant access to their target pieces of information. Such links are most effective when used on a large array of information that is organized into many smaller, related pieces and when the user requires only a small portion of information at any one time. Hypertext has been used most successfully by the interactive multimedia computer systems that came into commercial use in the early 1990s.

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Universalium. 2010.

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