Term of the Moment
addictive intelligence
Definition: virtual hypertext
A hypertext link that is dynamically created by software. Virtual hypertext eliminates the need to have predefine links in the text and avoids the underlined words that break the smooth flow of reading a sentence. Virtual hypertext embodies the true meaning of hypertext as coined by Ted Nelson in the 1960s (see hypertext). See smart tags, right-click dictionary lookup and overlinking.
One of the First
Built Into Most Browsers Today
The Windows version of this encyclopedia was one of the first apps to employ virtual hypertext. For example, clicking "virtual" (red arrow) jumps to the virtual definition even though the word is ordinary text. There are also italicized terms, which become links in other formats because the same source text is converted to all versions of the encyclopedia.
As long as the text cursor is present, most Web browsers allow the user to retrieve a definition by right clicking a word or highlighted phrase. See text cursor.