Hypertext

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈhaɪpəɹˌtɛkst/

Definitions

1. A system that facilitates the organization of text in a way that permits users to explore interconnected information via links
2. An arrangement of information that permits users to navigate seamlessly between various texts and documents through clickable connections
3. A method of structuring written content that enables users to move through related pieces of information by following embedded links

Etymology: Ted Nelson, an American information technologist, philosopher and sociologist, coined this term in 1965 to name a way of writing that is not confined to a single straight line. Readers of ordinary text move from the first word to the last, but Nelson imagined documents in which any passage could branch off into related material through embedded links, so that the reader chooses the path. The word is a straightforward compound. "Hyper-" comes from the Greek prefix meaning "over" or "beyond," and it was used in the sense of going beyond the limits of something ordinary. Joined to "text," it describes writing that extends past the boundaries of a single linear document, a sense that makes the link between the parts the defining feature rather than the words themselves.

Synonyms: linked text, interlinked content, multimedia text