Indexing in Hypertext Databases

WHAT IS HYPERTEXT? As Franklin puts it, "defining hypertext is much like describing beauty: part of it is inherent in the eye of the beholder" (1). Nevertheless, hypertext can be defined as "non-sequential reading and writing." Hypertext systems contain frames of text, pictures, sound, and animation that are organized non-linearly in a network of linked frames. From any frame, users can access a variety of other frames containing text or other media (2). Users follow various sequences of frames and links to retrieve the information they require or add new frames and connections between them. Hypertext systems with non-textual contents are called "hypermedia" to denote the fact that hypertext can not only include text but also non-textual data such as sound, images, animation and audio-visual data in digitized forms. The terms hypertext and multimedia are used throughout this chapter to cover both hypertext and hypermedia systems.