What Is Hypertext?

Date First Published: 5th February 2024

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Development

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 4/10

CONTENTS

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Hypertext
Difference Between Hypertext and Hypermedia
History

Learn about what hypertext is in this article.

Hypertext is a text format that provides references (hyperlinks) to other text, allowing users to navigate from one page to another in a web browser. Without hypertext, it would not be possible to follow a link to a related page. Every webpage uses hypertext and hypertext links are also used in other types of documents, such as spreadsheets, word documents, and presentations.

Hypertext is created in markup languages, such as XML and HTML to provide instructions on how to visually format text, hyperlinks, and other content. It can also be used to support complex and dynamic systems of linking and cross-referencing.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Hypertext

The advantages of hypertext are:

It saves time by eliminating the need for manual searching. Users can quickly move between related documents or information.
It is universally supported by operating systems and applications, allowing users to have a consistent experience.
It allows users to discover information more flexibly and can be combined with other multimedia elements, such as audio, video, images, and animations.

The disadvantages of hypertext are:

If hyperlinks are broken or mistyped, it can result in a poor user experience.
Hypertext can lead to users getting distracted due to the large number of hyperlinks on the page, taking the focus away from the original text.
Hypertext documents can contain large amounts of unorganised information in one document, which can lead to information overload.

Difference Between Hypertext and Hypermedia

The main difference between hypertext and hypermedia is that hypertext is a file format used to manage references to other text and only involves text, whilst hypermedia refers to combining hypertext with other media, such as sound, images, and animations.

Hypermedia is sometimes confused with multimedia. Multimedia uses several types of media at the same time to present content, whilst hypermedia is a type of multimedia structured in the same way as hypertext.

History

Hypertext has been around since the 1960s. The concept was introduced by Ted Nelson in 1965 who worked for and with Andries van Dam at Brown University. With the help of Ted and other Brown University students, Andries created a hypertext editing system (HES).

The first public display of hypertext was created by Douglas Engelbart on 9th December 1968. It was used to allow documents to cross-reference each other and provide faster access to information. By the early 1970s, all basic concepts of hypertext were defined, but non-academic use of hypertext was not common until the 1990s. Today, the World Wide Web is the most popular hypertext system.