3 ms·

Ask HN: Hypertext Software from Early 90s

4 points by prawn 7y ago

Back around 1991-93, I remember being in a school computer lab reworking the science curriculum in some type of hypertext software. I can't recall whether it was DOS, Windows or Mac based as we had access to a variety of machines (Amiga too). There were cards/pages, buttons we could position for moving between them. I think it either had a dark background by default or ability to set a dark mode. I keep thinking of purple/pink and green as a colour scheme. I don't think it was Hypercard. I keep thinking PageLink? PageLinx? Linksystem? Can anyone familiar with that era of computers think of what the software might have been?

gshdg 7y ago
HyperCard?
- prawn 7y ago
  No, I don't think it was HyperCard.
enkiv2 7y ago
There's AmigaGuide (http://code.iamkate.com/articles/amigaguide/ http://code.iamkate.com/articles/amigaguide/ , most screenshots look like they have a dark theme but generally not purple/pink). Dark theme with purple/pink sounds like the windows 'high contrast dark' theme, which shipped with Windows 95 & 98, and might have shipped with 3.11 / Workgroups as well. In that case, any card-based hypertext system that ran on Workgroups is a possibility. It looks like that includes Authorware (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Authorware https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Authorware), StorySpace (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyspace https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyspace), and probably KMS. Early versions of HyperTIES ran on DOS: https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ ; some HyperTIES images resemble what you describe: https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ecs_intro.gif https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ecs_intro.gif
- prawn 7y ago
  Don't think it was any of them. Pretty sure the background was black, and I don't remember that being a theme we picked. Think it was a default? Authorware was used a few years later when I worked in an educational multimedia unit. This one in the early 90s was very basic.

4 points by prawn 7y ago

gshdg 7y ago

HyperCard?

prawn 7y ago
No, I don't think it was HyperCard.

enkiv2 7y ago

There's AmigaGuide (http://code.iamkate.com/articles/amigaguide/ http://code.iamkate.com/articles/amigaguide/ , most screenshots look like they have a dark theme but generally not purple/pink). Dark theme with purple/pink sounds like the windows 'high contrast dark' theme, which shipped with Windows 95 & 98, and might have shipped with 3.11 / Workgroups as well. In that case, any card-based hypertext system that ran on Workgroups is a possibility. It looks like that includes Authorware (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Authorware https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Authorware), StorySpace (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyspace https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyspace), and probably KMS. Early versions of HyperTIES ran on DOS: https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ ; some HyperTIES images resemble what you describe: https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ecs_intro.gif https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/hyperties/ecs_intro.gif

prawn 7y ago
Don't think it was any of them. Pretty sure the background was black, and I don't remember that being a theme we picked. Think it was a default? Authorware was used a few years later when I worked in an educational multimedia unit. This one in the early 90s was very basic.