Hyperlinks History

  • The Conceptual Foundation
    1960s

    The term "hyperlink" is coined by Ted Nelson as he envisions a system of interconnected documents, which he later incorporates into Project Xanadu. This concept forms the basis for the future development of the World Wide Web and the way information is interconnected online.

  • Project Xanadu
    1960s

    Ted Nelson founds Project Xanadu, an ambitious initiative aimed at creating a universal library with a complex system of non-sequential writings where every piece of text is interconnected. Although the project never fully materialized, it inspired future developments in hyperlink technology.

  • World Wide Web Inception
    1980s

    Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist working at CERN, develops the idea of the World Wide Web, which uses hyperlinks as a means to navigate between different documents stored on the burgeoning internet. This innovation would revolutionize how information is accessed and shared globally.

  • First Web Browser
    1990

    The first web browser, called WorldWideWeb (later renamed Nexus), is developed by Tim Berners-Lee. It allows users to create and navigate hyperlinks, providing a user-friendly interface for interacting with the web of interconnected documents.

  • NCSA Mosaic Launch
    1993

    The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) releases Mosaic, the first graphical web browser that brings the World Wide Web to a wider audience. Its user-friendly interface and ability to handle images alongside text make hyperlinks and the internet more accessible to the general public.

  • Hyperlink Lifespan Study
    2013

    A study conducted in 2013 reveals that the median lifespan of a webpage is approximately 9.3 years, underscoring the transient nature of content on the internet. This finding highlights the importance of maintaining and updating hyperlinks to ensure the longevity and reliability of online information.

  • HTML5 Enhancement
    2014

    HTML5is officially released as the latest version of the Hypertext Markup Language, bringing with it significant improvements in how hyperlinks can be used. This includes new elements and attributes that provide developers with more control over the behavior and presentation of hyperlinks, enhancing the overall user experience on the web.

  • Hyperlinks Today
    Present

    Today, hyperlinks are an integral part of the digital landscape, serving as the connective tissue of the World Wide Web. They are used in everything from academic research to social media, enabling users to navigate vast amounts of information with ease and efficiency. The continued evolution of hyperlink technology is expected to play a critical role in the future development of the internet.

Key Technology

  • 1990
    HTML

    Hypertext Markup Language

    Read more
  • 1989
    HTTP

    Hypertext Transfer Protocol

    Read more
  • 1990
    URLs

    Uniform Resource Locators

    Read more
  • 1996
    CSS

    Cascading Style Sheets

    Read more

Key Application

  • 1991
    World Wide Web
    Read more
  • 1993
    Web Browsers
    Read more
  • 1998
    Search Engine
    Read more
  • 2001
    Wikis
    Read more

How the hyperlink changed everything

The hyperlink is the LEGO block of the internet. Here's the bizarre history of how it came to be, as told by user experience master Margaret Gould Stewart.
Watch the video to learn more about the history of the hyperlink.