Hypertext: An Introduction and Survey

TLDR

Hypertext links screen windows to database objects, enabling graphical and database pointers, and has sparked significant interest in its applications and design. The paper introduces hypertext and surveys key design issues in building hypertext environments. Research labs at universities and the Smithsonian Institute have been established to develop and showcase hypertext technologies.

Abstract

This article is a survey of existing hypertext systems, their applications, and their design. It is both an introduction to the world of hypertext and, at a deeper cut, a survey of some of the most important design issues that go into fashioning a hypertext environment. The concept of hypertext is quite simple: Windows on the screen are associated with objects in a database, and links are provided between these objects, both graphically (as labelled tokens) and in the database (as pointers). But this simple idea is creating much excitement. Several universities have created laboratories for research on hypertext, many articles have been written about the concept just within the last year, and the Smithsonian Institute has created a demonstration laboratory to develop and display hypertext technologies.