#hypertext — Public Fediverse posts

I should at some point get around to writing the specifications for the alternative web document markup language I've had in my head forever.

HTML isn't bad, but it is definitely constrained by its position as the default markup language for the whole modern web. They need to cater to everyone, from super fancy corporate websites, massive web applications, social media, video sites, encyclopedias, personal homepages, art projects, hobbyists, to professional webdev engineers ...

I really want something purpose-built for a more semantic, personal hypertext web aimed at enthusiasts.

Perhaps it wouldn't be as versatile as HTML, but it doesn't need to fit all use cases of every possible target audience or be viable for businesses.

I am thinking things like …

• Styling should be handled exclusively by the browser based on semantic elements and application-level user preferences (perhaps minimal style recommendations/hints at best).
• Differentiating types of hyperlinks; internal navigation links, important main links, optional context/rabbithole links etc.
• More granular and specific semantic elements, like the uncoupling of times and dates, splitting address/contact elements into specific fields like e-mail and name, quotations with attributions, definitions etc.
• Integration of other semantic data projects such as MusicBrainz, Wikidata or Wikipedia (holy link rot, but we'll see).
• More obligatory metadata like authorship, tags, publishing/modification date etc.
• Integration of non-search engine discoverability features like webrings, directly on a site level
• Easier cross-document reusable elements, i. e. integrating the same header or footer on each site
• Extensive entity-oriented data support with URIs, e. g. in-line fetching of things like names, pronouns or contact data from a central 'person' entity URL to automatically propagate things like name changes through the web.

… and so on.

I could even experiment with the markup tech itself; it doesn't need to be XML after all. It could even be something like a stand-off annotation document allowing the division of content writing from mark-up. Or something with a similarly simple syntax as Markdown, but with semantic instead of styling information.

And then comes the arduous task of implementing a parser. :popcorn: I'm so excited.

#web #webDev #markup #markupLanguages #html #hypertext #www #worldWideWeb #programming #tech

I should at some point get around to writing the specifications for the alternative web document markup language I've had in my head forever.

HTML isn't bad, but it is definitely constrained by its position as the default markup language for the whole modern web. They need to cater to everyone, from super fancy corporate websites, massive web applications, social media, video sites, encyclopedias, personal homepages, art projects, hobbyists, to professional webdev engineers ...

I really want something purpose-built for a more semantic, personal hypertext web aimed at enthusiasts.

Perhaps it wouldn't be as versatile as HTML, but it doesn't need to fit all use cases of every possible target audience or be viable for businesses.

I am thinking things like …

• Styling should be handled exclusively by the browser based on semantic elements and application-level user preferences (perhaps minimal style recommendations/hints at best).
• Differentiating types of hyperlinks; internal navigation links, important main links, optional context/rabbithole links etc.
• More granular and specific semantic elements, like the uncoupling of times and dates, splitting address/contact elements into specific fields like e-mail and name, quotations with attributions, definitions etc.
• Integration of other semantic data projects such as MusicBrainz, Wikidata or Wikipedia (holy link rot, but we'll see).
• More obligatory metadata like authorship, tags, publishing/modification date etc.
• Integration of non-search engine discoverability features like webrings, directly on a site level
• Easier cross-document reusable elements, i. e. integrating the same header or footer on each site
• Extensive entity-oriented data support with URIs, e. g. in-line fetching of things like names, pronouns or contact data from a central 'person' entity URL to automatically propagate things like name changes through the web.

… and so on.

I could even experiment with the markup tech itself; it doesn't need to be XML after all. It could even be something like a stand-off annotation document allowing the division of content writing from mark-up. Or something with a similarly simple syntax as Markdown, but with semantic instead of styling information.

And then comes the arduous task of implementing a parser. :popcorn: I'm so excited.

#web #webDev #markup #markupLanguages #html #hypertext #www #worldWideWeb #programming #tech

📢 The detailed programme for ACM Hypertext 2026 is now available! 🚀

Discover the full schedule of talks, workshops, keynotes, and exciting conference sessions.

📍 London, England, United Kingdom
📅 September 14–18, 2026

🔗 Explore the programme: https://ht.acm.org/ht2026/programme/

We look forward to seeing you in London! 🌎

#HT2026 #Hypertext #ACM #UMAP2026 #Conference #London

📢 The detailed programme for ACM Hypertext 2026 is now available! 🚀

Discover the full schedule of talks, workshops, keynotes, and exciting conference sessions.

📍 London, England, United Kingdom
📅 September 14–18, 2026

🔗 Explore the programme: https://ht.acm.org/ht2026/programme/

We look forward to seeing you in London! 🌎

#HT2026 #Hypertext #ACM #UMAP2026 #Conference #London

If you're still interested in the definition of #hypertext and #hypermedia, take a look at this page:

https://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/hypermedia.htm

#Britannica definition of #hypertext.

"Scholars define hypertext as an array of meaning-making practices and suggest that its dynamic and interactive character is related to how it can be accessed and how it can be continuously assembled."

Although NoteCards was not initially designed with collaboration in mind, this 1986 paper described some extensions and features for supporting collaboration. NoteCards is the hypertext-based idea structuring system of Medley Interlisp.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/637069.637089

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/637069.637089

#interlisp #hypertext #retrocomputing

Although NoteCards was not initially designed with collaboration in mind, this 1986 paper described some extensions and features for supporting collaboration. NoteCards is the hypertext-based idea structuring system of Medley Interlisp.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/637069.637089

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/637069.637089

#interlisp #hypertext #retrocomputing

Did you know? 💡

The ACM Hypertext Conference (#HT2026) is a leading venue for research on hypertext, social media, the Semantic Web, hypermedia, and interactive narratives.

📍 Join us at HT 2026 in London, UK, 14–18 September 2026!!

#Hypertext #HT2026 #AI #Research #ACM

Did you know? 💡

The ACM Hypertext Conference (#HT2026) is a leading venue for research on hypertext, social media, the Semantic Web, hypermedia, and interactive narratives.

📍 Join us at HT 2026 in London, UK, 14–18 September 2026!!

#Hypertext #HT2026 #AI #Research #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Ted Nelson Newcomer Award, 2025

Navid Ayoobi et al. received the award for "ESPERANTO: Evaluating Synthesized Phrases to Enhance Robustness in AI Detection for Text".

🔗 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3720553.3746665

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Ted Nelson Newcomer Award, 2025

Navid Ayoobi et al. received the award for "ESPERANTO: Evaluating Synthesized Phrases to Enhance Robustness in AI Detection for Text".

🔗 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3720553.3746665

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2025

Alessio Antonini, Lucia Lupi, Mariusz Pisarski & Sam Brooker received the award for "Literary Hypertext, AI, and Google's New Web: An Aesthetics Discussion".

The paper explores AI, Google's evolving web, and literary hypertext.

🔗 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3720553.3746678

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2025

Alessio Antonini, Lucia Lupi, Mariusz Pisarski & Sam Brooker received the award for "Literary Hypertext, AI, and Google's New Web: An Aesthetics Discussion".

The paper explores AI, Google's evolving web, and literary hypertext.

🔗 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3720553.3746678

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2024 |
Joey Donald Jones, David Millard. Experiencing The Authorial Burden — model of authoring work in Interactive Digital Narratives.

🔗https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3648188.3675134

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2024 |
Joey Donald Jones, David Millard. Experiencing The Authorial Burden — model of authoring work in Interactive Digital Narratives.

🔗https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3648188.3675134

#Hypertext #ACM

🔭🤠 "Telescope Ranchers" on Kottke.org: where cosmic cowboys herd celestial content and wrangle affiliate commissions in the wild, wild west of #hypertext. #Yeehaw, partner! 🤠✨
https://kottke.org/26/06/telescope-ranchers #TelescopeRanchers #cosmicCowboys #affiliateCommissions #HackerNews #ngated

🔭🤠 "Telescope Ranchers" on Kottke.org: where cosmic cowboys herd celestial content and wrangle affiliate commissions in the wild, wild west of #hypertext. #Yeehaw, partner! 🤠✨
https://kottke.org/26/06/telescope-ranchers #TelescopeRanchers #cosmicCowboys #affiliateCommissions #HackerNews #ngated

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2023

Mark Anderson and David Millard. "Seven Hypertexts"

🔗 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3603163.3609048

The paper explores seven different ways of understanding hypertext beyond a single definition.

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2023

Mark Anderson and David Millard. "Seven Hypertexts"

🔗 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3603163.3609048

The paper explores seven different ways of understanding hypertext beyond a single definition.

#Hypertext #ACM

🚀 Registration for ACM Hypertext 2026 is now officially open! 🚀

📍 London, England, United Kingdom
📅 September 14–18, 2026

This year's conference theme:
🌎 “The World as Hypertext”

Join researchers and practitioners working on hypertext, digital media, recommender systems, social network analysis, and related fields.

🔗 Learn more and register: https://ht.acm.org/

#HT2026 #Hypertext #ACM #UMAP2026 #RecSys2026 #ICWSM2026 #KDD2026

🚀 Registration for ACM Hypertext 2026 is now officially open! 🚀

📍 London, England, United Kingdom
📅 September 14–18, 2026

This year's conference theme:
🌎 “The World as Hypertext”

Join researchers and practitioners working on hypertext, digital media, recommender systems, social network analysis, and related fields.

🔗 Learn more and register: https://ht.acm.org/

#HT2026 #Hypertext #ACM #UMAP2026 #RecSys2026 #ICWSM2026 #KDD2026

And here’s a real-world example of the lifecycle of an action performed on a local copy of the Gaza Verified web site¹ showing the event from the toggle button on the client being automatically mapped to the relevant event handler on the SignUpsSwitch Kitten component instance on the server and that handler setting a boolean on a JavaScript object in memory, which is automatically persisted to disk via Kitten’s default JSDB² database.

Note that Kitten is smart enough to automatically redact fields in the log output that look like they might be secrets.

All this is in the stateful-components-api-breaking-change branch³ at the moment and will be in the next release.

¹ https://gaza-verified.org
² https://codeberg.org/small-tech/jsdb
³ https://codeberg.org/kitten/app/src/branch/stateful-components-api-breaking-change

#SmallWeb #Kitten #web #dev #statefulComponents #streamingHTML #hypertext #GazaVerified

And here’s a real-world example of the lifecycle of an action performed on a local copy of the Gaza Verified web site¹ showing the event from the toggle button on the client being automatically mapped to the relevant event handler on the SignUpsSwitch Kitten component instance on the server and that handler setting a boolean on a JavaScript object in memory, which is automatically persisted to disk via Kitten’s default JSDB² database.

Note that Kitten is smart enough to automatically redact fields in the log output that look like they might be secrets.

All this is in the stateful-components-api-breaking-change branch³ at the moment and will be in the next release.

¹ https://gaza-verified.org
² https://codeberg.org/small-tech/jsdb
³ https://codeberg.org/kitten/app/src/branch/stateful-components-api-breaking-change

#SmallWeb #Kitten #web #dev #statefulComponents #streamingHTML #hypertext #GazaVerified

You also have some helpful new error messages to look forward to :)

#SmallWeb #Kitten #NodeJS #JavaScript #web #dev #statefulComponents #streamingHTML #hypertext #errorMessages

You also have some helpful new error messages to look forward to :)

#SmallWeb #Kitten #NodeJS #JavaScript #web #dev #statefulComponents #streamingHTML #hypertext #errorMessages

PS. The updated component render you’re seeing streamed to the browser in the previous screenshot is the code rendered by Kitten (showing the underlying HTMX internals, etc.)

The code you write in Kitten is considerably less complicated.

The attached screenshot is all the code in the simple counter example (all in one file, index.page.ts). To run it, you’d just run `kitten` in the directory that file is in and then hit https://localhost.

#SmallWeb #Kitten #web #dev #statefulComponents #streamingHTML #hypertext #webSockets

PS. The updated component render you’re seeing streamed to the browser in the previous screenshot is the code rendered by Kitten (showing the underlying HTMX internals, etc.)

The code you write in Kitten is considerably less complicated.

The attached screenshot is all the code in the simple counter example (all in one file, index.page.ts). To run it, you’d just run `kitten` in the directory that file is in and then hit https://localhost.

#SmallWeb #Kitten #web #dev #statefulComponents #streamingHTML #hypertext #webSockets

Very excited about the new stateful components model in Kitten¹ that I’m looking forward to releasing this week (finally) and the amount of visibility you can now get into the flow of your Kitten apps in the Kitten Interactive Shell (REPL)².

Since the new model is a breaking change (Kitten is prerelease) I’m in the middle of updating our own apps/sites and I still need to document everything. So it will take me a few days to do all that but then I’m very much looking forward to focussing on finishing up Catalyst and Yarn³ for launch this year.

It’s been a six year trek to reach what will essentially be the starting point of the Small Web :)

💕

PS. If you want to support our work, please see https://small-tech.org/fund-us/

¹ https://kitten.small-web.org
² https://kitten.small-web.org/tutorials/kitten-s-interactive-shell-repl/
³ https://ar.al/2024/06/24/small-web-computer-science-colloquium-at-university-of-groningen/

#SmallWeb #Kitten #web #dev #statefulComponents #streamingHTML #hypertext #webSockets

Very excited about the new stateful components model in Kitten¹ that I’m looking forward to releasing this week (finally) and the amount of visibility you can now get into the flow of your Kitten apps in the Kitten Interactive Shell (REPL)².

Since the new model is a breaking change (Kitten is prerelease) I’m in the middle of updating our own apps/sites and I still need to document everything. So it will take me a few days to do all that but then I’m very much looking forward to focussing on finishing up Catalyst and Yarn³ for launch this year.

It’s been a six year trek to reach what will essentially be the starting point of the Small Web :)

💕

PS. If you want to support our work, please see https://small-tech.org/fund-us/

¹ https://kitten.small-web.org
² https://kitten.small-web.org/tutorials/kitten-s-interactive-shell-repl/
³ https://ar.al/2024/06/24/small-web-computer-science-colloquium-at-university-of-groningen/

#SmallWeb #Kitten #web #dev #statefulComponents #streamingHTML #hypertext #webSockets

🏆 Hypertext Ted Nelson Newcomer Award, 2022

Fedor Vitiugin and Carlos Castillo. Cross-Lingual Query-Based Summarization of Crisis-Related Social Media.

🔗 www.sigweb.org/awards

Cross-lingual transformers summarize crisis-related social media for emergency response.

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2022

Mark Bernstein and Stee McMorris. Links Of Darkness: Hypertext And Horror.
🔗 https://www.sigweb.org/awards
Hypertext and horror share a common ground: uncertainty, disorientation, and the uncanny.

#Hypertext #ACM

Oh, the irony! 💻 A 2011 article boldly claiming #Nabokov as the OG #hypertext wizard, yet it can't even load without #JavaScript sorcery and cookie crumbs. 🍪 Because, obviously, nothing screams "literary genius" like browser settings! 🙄
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1995966.1996008 #Irony #LiteraryGenius #BrowserSettings #HackerNews #ngated

Oh, the irony! 💻 A 2011 article boldly claiming #Nabokov as the OG #hypertext wizard, yet it can't even load without #JavaScript sorcery and cookie crumbs. 🍪 Because, obviously, nothing screams "literary genius" like browser settings! 🙄
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1995966.1996008 #Irony #LiteraryGenius #BrowserSettings #HackerNews #ngated

Nabokov's pale fire: the lost 'father of all hypertext demos'? (2011)

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1995966.1996008

#HackerNews #Nabokov #Hypertext #Literature #DigitalArt #LiteraryAnalysis

Nabokov's pale fire: the lost 'father of all hypertext demos'? (2011)

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1995966.1996008

#HackerNews #Nabokov #Hypertext #Literature #DigitalArt #LiteraryAnalysis

🏆 Hypertext Ted Nelson Newcomer Award, 2021

Mithun Das, Punyajoy Saha, Ritam Dutt, Pawan Goyal, Animesh Mukherjee & Binny Mathew. You too Brutus! Trapping Hateful Users in Social Media: Challenges, Solutions & Insights.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Ted Nelson Newcomer Award, 2021

Mithun Das, Punyajoy Saha, Ritam Dutt, Pawan Goyal, Animesh Mukherjee & Binny Mathew. You too Brutus! Trapping Hateful Users in Social Media: Challenges, Solutions & Insights.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2021
Alisa Rieger, Tim Draws, Mariët Theune & Nava Tintarev. This Item Might Reinforce Your Opinion: Obfuscation and Labeling of Search Results to Mitigate Confirmation Bias.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2021
Alisa Rieger, Tim Draws, Mariët Theune & Nava Tintarev. This Item Might Reinforce Your Opinion: Obfuscation and Labeling of Search Results to Mitigate Confirmation Bias.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards

#Hypertext #ACM

Applications are open for the @ACM #Hypertext 2026 Summer School.

Join an international program on hypertext, web science, and digital narratives with leading researchers.

Includes free attendance at the Hypertext Conference 2026 @ht in London.

Ideal for PhD students and early-career researchers in Digital Humanities, HCI, and related fields.

Learn more and apply: https://ht.acm.org/ht2026/summer-school/

#Hypertext #DigitalHumanities #WebScience #PhD #HT2026 #CfP @sigweb

Applications are open for the @ACM #Hypertext 2026 Summer School.

Join an international program on hypertext, web science, and digital narratives with leading researchers.

Includes free attendance at the Hypertext Conference 2026 @ht in London.

Ideal for PhD students and early-career researchers in Digital Humanities, HCI, and related fields.

Learn more and apply: https://ht.acm.org/ht2026/summer-school/

#Hypertext #DigitalHumanities #WebScience #PhD #HT2026 #CfP @sigweb

🏆 Hypertext Ted Nelson Newcomer Award, 2020 | Sofia Kitromili, James Jordan and David Millard.
What Authors Think about Hypertext Authoring.

A study on the challenges of writing hypertext and interactive narratives.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards
#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Ted Nelson Newcomer Award, 2020 | Sofia Kitromili, James Jordan and David Millard.
What Authors Think about Hypertext Authoring.

A study on the challenges of writing hypertext and interactive narratives.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards
#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2020
Alessio Antonini, Francesca Benatti and Sally Blackburn-Daniels. On Links To Be: Exercises in Style #2.
A study on annotations and marginalia as “links to the future”.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 Hypertext Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award, 2020
Alessio Antonini, Francesca Benatti and Sally Blackburn-Daniels. On Links To Be: Exercises in Style #2.
A study on annotations and marginalia as “links to the future”.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards

#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 HT Award Spotlight – Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award 2019

Jacob Wobbrock, Anya Hsu, Marijn Burger and Michael Magee: Isolating the Effects of Web Page Visual Appearance on the Perceived Credibility of Online News among College Students
Visual design shapes credibility.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards
#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 HT Award Spotlight – Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award 2019

Jacob Wobbrock, Anya Hsu, Marijn Burger and Michael Magee: Isolating the Effects of Web Page Visual Appearance on the Perceived Credibility of Online News among College Students
Visual design shapes credibility.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards
#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 HT Award Spotlight – Ted Nelson Newcomer Award 2019

Isaac Alpizar-Chacon and Sergey Sosnovsky: Expanding the Web of Knowledge: one Textbook at a Time
Research on enriching digital textbooks with semantic links and connected knowledge models.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards
#Hypertext #ACM

RE: https://mastodon.social/@doriantaylor/116590222229198091

“A meditation on the close of a veritable odyssey, and how Intertwingler—the application server I'm creating—is actually a frontal assault on link rot.”

#hypertext #transclusion #caching #webserver

🏆 HT Award Spotlight – Douglas Engelbart Best Paper Award 2018

Lemei Zhang, Peng Liu and Jon Atle Gulla: A Deep Joint Network for Session-based News Recommendations with Contextual Augmentation

Research on news recommendation systems.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards
#Hypertext #ACM

🏆 HT Award Spotlight – Ted Nelson Newcomer Award 2018

Sumit Bhatia and Harit Vishwakarma: Know Thy Neighbors, and More!

Research on context-aware entity recommendation in knowledge graphs.

🔗 http://sigweb.org/awards

#Hypertext #ACM

The #CfP for #HUMAN26 is now online! We’re looking for paper submissions and would be delighted to receive your #research contribution. Find all details here: https://human.iisys.de/human26/

The HUMAN26 workshop will take place at the 2026 @ACM #Hypertext @ht Conference in London, UK.