Basic Information

Abstract: This document provides basic information about hypertext, HTML, and design for the World-Wide Web.

• Hypertext
• HTML
• URLs
• Design

Hypertext

Hypertext (literally "beyond text") is a method of structuring information in which the information is segmented into nodes which are joined together with links. As there can be multiple links from and to each node, hypertext permits different readers to take different paths through the same structure.

Hypertext is not a new concept. We've been segmenting and linking information for years. To some, the Talmud is a hypertext document. However, the computer has permitted us to develop more interactive, more dynamic, and more powerful hypertext systems.

Much of the modern work on hypertext derives from an excellent article by Vannevar Bush entitled As We May Think, which was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1945. As you may know, Bush is a primary architect of modern American scientific policy. The term hypertext was coined by Ted Nelson in the late 1960's.

Different hypertext systems provide different capabilities. In a particular system, you might find

• the ability to link to arbitrary text within a node, as well as to a complete node;
• the ability to include a node (or a portion thereof) within another document;
• unidirectional or bidirectional links;
• handling of intellectual property issues;
• the ability to use images as well as text;
• methods of formatting text; or
• methods of indicating the "role" each piece of text plays.

Educatioanl hypertext applications have ranged from simple collections of course notes and handouts to complex systems like Perseus, an enormous repository of ancient Greek literature, artifacts, and such.

HTML

HTML, the HhyperText Markup Language, was developed by Tim Berners-Lee as he was developing a hypertext system that we now call the World-Wide Web. In HTML, document authors annotate individual pieces of text with tags that indicate the role or appearance of that text.

Although Berners-Lee originally developed HTML and the Web as a simple way for physics researchers to share papers and information, it has grown to be the largest application on the Internet.

The Web is based on more than HTML. It also requires

• HTTP, the the HhyperText Transfer Pprotocol, which describes how HTML documents are transferred from computer to computer.
• URLs, Universal Resource Locations, which "name" documents and describe how to obtain a particular document.
• Servers, which store HTML documents and send them to browsers.
• Browsers, which display HTML documents.
• The Internet (or other network), which provides the communication medium over which HTML documents are sent.

The Web has grown to encompass a number of other technologies, including

• CGI, the Common Gateway Interface, a protocol which permits HTML pages to provide input to programs that reside on servers.
• Java, a programming language which permits programmers to write platform-independent software (which is sometimes included in web pages).
• JavaScript and VBScript, languages for building dynamic web pages.

URLs

In order to write HTML (and, often, even just to use the web), you need to understand URLs. Most URLs have five parts,

• Protocol (usually http) followed by a colon and two slashes
• Server
• Port (optional; if not specified, uses the default port for the protocol)
• Path
• File

For example, in the URLs http://www.math.grin.edu/~rebelsky/Tutorials/Design/EdMedia97/basics.html

• The protocol is http
• The server is www.math.grin.edu
• The port is the default port
• The path to the file is /~rebelsky/Tutorials/Design/EdMedia97
• The file is terminology.html

Not all URLs need all these components.

Design

I tend to use web design as an all-encompassing phrase to mean "the way in which we put information together for the World-Wide Web." As such, it includes

• What materials to include in a web.
  • What categories of materials belong in the web.
  • What belongs in each category.
• The organization of the hypertext structure
  • How are documents named and placed in a hierarchy.
  • What kinds of links are there between documents.
  • What size pages are used.
• The logical design of individual pages.
  • What goes on the page.
  • What is the role of each piece of text.
• The physical design of individual pages.
  • What does the page look like.
  • In what order are elements presented.

To build a useful and useable course web, you must concern yourself with each of these issues, and the ways that they relate.

This page written by Samuel A. Rebelsky.

This page generated on 47 by SamR's Site Suite.