Crafting the User-Centered Document Interface: The Hypertext Editing System (HES) and the File Retrieval and Editing System (FRESS)

submited by

Style Pass

2021-07-23 18:00:08

This article traces the development of two important hypertext systems in the history of computing, and the new paradigms they created: the Hypertext Editing System (HES) and the File Retrieval and Editing System (FRESS). HES was the world's first word processor to run on commercial equipment. It was also the first hypertext system that beginners could use, and pioneered many modern hypertext concepts for personal use. Although the idea of hypertext predates HES and FRESS, this article argues that these two systems were successful because they demonstrated hypertext to a sceptical public; they were both working prototypes.

Demonstrations have had an important, perhaps even central, place in new media innovation. In some centres of new media, the traditional knowledge-work dictum of “publish or perish” is replaced by “demo or die.” [Wardrip-Fruin & Montfort 2003, 231]

Nelson's vision seduced me. I really loved his way of thinking about writing, editing and annotating as a scholarly activity, and putting tools together to support that. I hadn't heard of Engelbart. I hadn't heard of Bush and Memex. So after meeting quite by accident at this computer conference, and talking about what we each were doing, we somehow got onto the topic. I had this wonderful graphics display...and I was working on various graphics applications at the time. He talked me into working on the world’s first hypertext system and that sounded cool. [Van Dam 1999]