hypertext

English

Etymology

From hyper- +‎ text; coined by American information technologist, philosopher, and sociologist Ted Nelson in 1965.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪpəɹˌtɛkst/
• Hyphenation: hy‧per‧text

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

hypertext (countable and uncountable, plural hypertexts)

1. (uncountable) Digital text in which the reader may navigate related information through embedded hyperlinks.
   • 2009, Christian Vandendorpe, Phyllis Aronoff, and Howard Scott (Phyllis Aronoff, Howard Scott, transl.), From Papyrus to Hypertext: Toward the Universal Digital Library, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, p 1:

     We do not read hypertext the same way we read a novel, and browsing the Web is a different experience from reading a book or newspaper.

   • 1999, Ray McAleese, Hypertext: Theory into Practice, Intellect Books, →ISBN, page 2:

     Further, hypertext systems, because of their ease of construction, are very rich in text, graphics and visual illustrations.

   • 1995, Gary Wolf, "The Curse of Xanadu", WIRED

     Did Nelson realize at the time that he had met Xanadu's second parent? Probably not. The inventor scattered his ideas as widely as possible, with little care about where they landed. But as the decades passed, it would be Gregory who oversaw the attempt to transform Xanadu into a real product. He never received much public notice, but through all the project's painful deaths and rebirths, Gregory's commitment to Nelson's dream of a universal hypertext library never waned. If Ted Nelson is Xanadu's profligate father, Roger Gregory is Xanadu's devoted mother, and in retrospect, his role appears to have been intertwined with a terrible element of sacrifice.

2. (countable) A hypertext document.
   • 1969, S. Carmody, W. Gross, T. Nelson, D. Rice, and A. van Dam, “A Hypertext Editing System for the /360”, in Michael Faiman and Jurg Nievergelt, Pertinent Concepts in Computer Graphics: Proceedings, University of Illinois Press, p 296:

     A hypertext system, then, is a memex-like device for creating and manipulating hypertexts, both for on-line browsing, and for reducing selected portions of such texts to . .

Synonyms

• non-linear text

Derived terms

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol, HTTP
• Hypertext Markup Language, HTML

Related terms

• hyperlink

Translations

uncountable: text for the Web

• Arabic: هَايْبَرْتِكْسْت m (haybartekst)
• Catalan: hipertext (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 超文本 (zh) (chāowénběn), 超文字 (zh) (chāowénzì)

• Czech: hypertext m
• Danish: hypertekst
• Esperanto: hiperteksto
• Finnish: hyperteksti (fi)
• French: hypertexte (fr) m
• Galician: hipertexto m
• German: Hypertext (de) m
• Greek: υπερκείμενο (el) n (yperkeímeno)
• Icelandic: stiklutexti m
• Ido: hipertexto
• Italian: ipertesto (it) m
• Japanese: 超文面 (ちょうぶんめん, chōbunmen), ハイパーテキスト (ja) (haipātekisuto)
• Macedonian: хипертекст (mk) m (hipertekst)
• Malay: hiperteks
• Polish: hipertekst (pl) m
• Portuguese: hipertexto (pt) m
• Russian: гиперте́кст (ru) m (gipertékst)
• Spanish: hipertexto (es) m
• Swedish: hypertext (sv) c
• Turkish: hipermetin (tr)

countable: hypertext document

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 超文本 (zh) (chāowénběn), 超文件 (zh) (chāowénjiàn)

• French: document (fr) m hypertexte (fr) m
• Greek: υπερκείμενο (el) n (yperkeímeno)
• Polish: hipertekst (pl) m
• Spanish: hipertexto (es) m
• Swedish: hypertext (sv) c, hypertextdokument (sv) n