What is hypertext and hypermedia?
The operation of the Web relies on hypertext as its means of interacting with users. Hypertext is basically the same as regular text – it can be stored, read, searched, or edited – with an important exception: hypertext contains connections within the text to other documents. For instance, suppose you were able to somehow select (with a mouse or with your finger) the word “hypertext” in the sentence before this one. In a hypertext system, you would then have one or more documents related to hypertext appear before you – a history of hypertext, for example, or the Webster’s definition of hypertext. These new texts would themselves have links and connections to other documents – continually selecting text would take you on a free-associative tour of information. In this way, hypertext links, called hyperlinks, can create a complex virtual web of connections. Hypermedia is hypertext with a difference – hypermedia documents contain links not only to other pieces of text, but also to other
