NWE Help: Web: Intro: Hypertext

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The term "hypertext" was coined by literary theorist Ted Nelson. According to one web source (which perished in the dot.bomb) hypertext is:

A way of presenting information in which text, sounds, images, and actions are linked together in a way that allows you to jump around between them in whatever order you choose. Hypertext usually refers to any text available on the World Wide Web that contains links to other documents.

But many see it as a lot more than that. First off, hypertext doesn't have to be on the web, or even on a computer, to be hypertext. It just has to do more than plain old text (hence the name). For example, dictionaries and encyclopedias have hypertextual elements, as do many reference books.

The first hypertext system was proposed in 1945 by Vannevar Bush in the classic article "As We May Think," but was never built. Why? Imagine trying to change a hypertext made of printed material. Or copying information without a photocopier. The computer offers hypertext portability and rapid extensibility. Updating a computer-based hypertext is as easy as typing a few keystrokes. That's why the two technologies seem a perfect, inseperable match.

Early hypertext systems such as Apple's HyperCard didn't tap into the power of networking like today's hypertext. But that's not because of a lack of brightness at Apple's Cupertino research center--the network technologies of the time simply couldn't handle it. Imagine trying to download images over a modem 1/8th the speed of yours. Yikes! No wonder hypertexts were distributed on diskette or CD-ROM.