Dictionary

hypertext en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈhaɪpəɹˌtɛkst/
• (US) audio

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (uncountable) Digital text in which the reader may navigate related information through embedded hyperlinks.
   • 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.
   • 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. 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, p 1
   • Further, hypertext systems, because of their ease of construction, are very rich in text, graphics and visual illustrations. 1999, Ray McAleese, Hypertext: Theory into Practice, Intellect Books, →ISBN, page 2:
2. (countable) A hypertext document.
   • 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 . . 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

Forms

Deriveds

nonhypertext · Hypertext Transfer Protocol · hypertexted · HTML · hypertext file · Hypertext Markup Language · HTTP

Relateds

hyperlink

Synonyms

non-linear text

Translations (37)

es hipertexto (countable: hypertext document) · io hipertexto (uncountable: text for the Web) · cs hypertext (uncountable: text for the Web) · pl hipertekst (uncountable: text for the Web) · is stiklutexti (uncountable: text for the Web) · de Hypertext (uncountable: text for the Web) · sv hypertext (countable: hypertext document) · sv hypertextdokument (countable: hypertext document) · tr hipertekst (uncountable: text for the Web) · cmn 超文件 (countable: hypertext document) · ja 超文面 (uncountable: text for the Web) · ar هَايْبَرْتِكْسْت (uncountable: text for the Web) · fr hypertexte (uncountable: text for the Web) · cmn 超文字 (uncountable: text for the Web) · el υπερκείμενο (uncountable: text for the Web) · ru гиперте́кст (uncountable: text for the Web) · cmn 超文本 (countable: hypertext document) · ka ჰიპერტექსტი (uncountable: text for the Web) · sv hypertext (uncountable: text for the Web) · ko 초본문 (uncountable: text for the Web) · ja ハイパーテキスト (uncountable: text for the Web) · it ipertesto (uncountable: text for the Web) · pl hipertekst (countable: hypertext document) · fr document m hypertexte (countable: hypertext document) · es hipertexto (uncountable: text for the Web) · tr hipermetin (uncountable: text for the Web) · cmn 超文本 (uncountable: text for the Web) · ms hiperteks (uncountable: text for the Web) · ca hipertext (uncountable: text for the Web) · ko 하이퍼텍스트 (uncountable: text for the Web) · el υπερκείμενο (countable: hypertext document) · mk хипертекст (uncountable: text for the Web) · da hypertekst (uncountable: text for the Web) · eo hiperteksto (uncountable: text for the Web) · pt hipertexto (uncountable: text for the Web) · fi hyperteksti (uncountable: text for the Web) · gl hipertexto (uncountable: text for the Web)