Hypertext

Hypertext is a form of specially-formatted textual content that gives a hyperlink to different content material. Hypertext permits system designers to arrange info in a branching construction as an alternative of a linear one. Clicking a hypertext hyperlink (known as a hyperlink) will ship the consumer to a different part of the present doc or a separate doc completely. Hypertext hyperlinks are a basic constructing block of the Internet, permitting customers to navigate in a internet browser from web page to web page and from web site to web site.

The use of hypertext predates the Internet, courting back to the Sixties. It permits paperwork in a system to cross-reference one another and supply fast entry to info. Dictionary and encyclopedia software program use hypertext to hyperlink from one article or definition to a different. Apple’s HyperCard software program used hypertext (in addition to hyperlinks added to pictures) to permit customers to create and navigate a flat-file database, which individuals used to create all the pieces from easy databases to shows to interactive choose-your-own-adventure video games.

Hypertext served as the premise for the unique information-sharing system that turned the World Wide Web, and its usefulness helped spur the expansion of the online on the Internet. Hypertext is used on nearly each single internet web page on each single web site. Hypertext hyperlinks are additionally nonetheless utilized in many sorts of paperwork, serving to customers navigate lengthy textual content paperwork and spreadsheets.

NOTE: Similarly-formatted images and movies that present hyperlinks to different content material are generally known as “hypermedia.”