hypertext, n. orig. and chiefly Computing.
(ˈhaɪpətɛkst)
[f. hyper- 5 + text n.]
Text which does not form a single sequence and which may be read in various orders; spec. text and graphics (usu. in machine-readable form) which are interconnected in such a way that a reader of the material (as displayed at a computer terminal, etc.) can discontinue reading one document at certain points in order to consult other related matter. Freq. attrib.
| 1965 T. H. Nelson in Proc. 20th Nat. Conf. Assoc. Computing Machinery 96 Let me introduce the word ‘hypertext’ to mean a body of written or pictorial material interconnected in such a complex way that it could not conveniently be presented or represented on paper. 1967 ― in G. Schecter Information Retrieval 195 Such a congeries of interconnected text may incorporate and have available many chunks of literature on a given subject, or many subjects, purposely assembled and woven together by authors and editors. The name for this new medium is hypertext. 1969 Faiman & Nievergelt Pertinent Concepts in Computer Graphics 292 The brown university hypertext editing system is a computer system for text handling and display, having a number of helpful and intertwined uses. 1979 Computers & Humanities XIII. 270/1 The hypertext ‘surrounding’ the initial poem would encourage the students to participate by presenting them with facts and ideas which could be used to broaden and modify their initial reactions. 1985 N.Y. Times 29 Aug. d2/1 Last week Xerox introduced Notecards, a software program embodying the ideas of hypertext. 1991 Whole Earth Rev. Summer 59/2 Links connect nodes in the hypertext software by computer-supported relationships that permit rapid, easy movement across the network of nodes. |
Hence hyperˈtextual a.
| 1987 PC Week 6 Oct. 69/1 The layout of a magazine or the front page of a newspaper, with sequential text, inset illustrations and boxes, is hypertextual in nature. |
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▸ hypertext link n. = hyperlink n.
| 1987 Computerworld (Nexis) 21 Sept. 21 You can create and use arbitrary *hypertext links, or you can use the file manager to find things not previously linked by hand. 1994 .net Dec. 81/4 When you're using the Internet you can select hypertext links to view video clips or listen to sampled speech or music. 2000 Econ. Affairs 20 29/3 Even the interconnectedness of the World Wide Web, the (now casually accepted) fact that hypertext links can take you to what you want to know with a minimum of fuss, has been legally contested. |
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▸ Hypertext Markup Language n. a standard system for tagging text files to achieve formatting, graphics, and linking when they are stored as web pages; abbreviated HTML.
| [1990 CD-ROM Professional May 56 The implementation of aids such as Standardized Generalized Markup Language or Hypertext markup enhancements can be costly.] 1992 Computers in Libraries (Nexis) Dec. 75 The answer was the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the *HyperText Markup Language (HTML), client server architecture, and a common document-naming scheme. 1995 NetGuide Sept. 26/1 Wanna be a Webmaster without mastering HyperText Markup Language? 2000 New Scientist 2 Sept. 20/1 The Web works using a method called Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to move documents written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). |
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▸ hypertext transfer protocol n. a protocol that supports the retrieval of data on networks, esp. of HTML documents on the World Wide Web; abbreviated HTTP.
| 1992 Computer Networks & ISDN Syst. 25 457/1 To achieve this, a simple new protocol, HTTP (*Hypertext Transfer Protocol) was defined in the conventional Internet style. 2000 Guardian (Electronic ed.) 20 July To transport the data, a new protocol was invented called HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol). But TCP/IP and other protocols date back to the 1970s. |
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▸ hypertext transport protocol n. = hypertext transfer protocol n. at Additions.
| 1994 PC Week (Nexis) 31 Jan. 71 CERN's HTTP (*Hypertext Transport Protocol) server (called httpd) comes with make files..and prebuilt binaries for several versions of Unix. 1997 New Scientist 29 Mar. 25/2 An updated version of the Hypertext Transport Protocol, or HTTP, will ask for everything at once instead of making multiple requests. |