ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Margaret Gould Stewart - User experience master
At Facebook (and previously at YouTube), Margaret Gould Stewart designs experiences that touch the lives of a large percentage of the world's population.

Why you should listen

Margaret Gould Stewart has spent her career asking, “How do we design user experiences that change the world in fundamental ways?” It's a powerful question that has led her to manage user experiences for six of the ten most visited websites in the world, including Facebook, where she serves as Director of Product Design.

Before joining Facebook, Margaret managed the User Experience Team for YouTube, where she oversaw the largest redesign in the company's history, including the YouTube player page. She came to YouTube after two years leading Search and Consumer Products UX at Google. She approaches her work with a combined appreciation for timeless great design and transient digital technologies, and always with the end goal of improving people's lives. As she says: "Design is creativity in service of others."

More profile about the speaker
Margaret Gould Stewart | Speaker | TED.com
Small Thing Big Idea

Margaret Gould Stewart: How the hyperlink changed everything

Filmed:
398,379 views

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.
- User experience master
At Facebook (and previously at YouTube), Margaret Gould Stewart designs experiences that touch the lives of a large percentage of the world's population. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I remember thinking to myself,
0
135
1913
00:14
"This is going to change everything
about how we communicate."
1
2072
3317
00:17
[Small thing.]
2
5413
1151
00:18
[Big idea.]
3
6588
1150
00:21
[Margaret Gould Stewart on the Hyperlink]
4
9016
2563
00:23
A hyperlink is an interface element,
5
11603
2508
00:26
and what I mean by that is,
6
14135
1396
00:27
when you're using software
on your phone or your computer,
7
15555
3516
00:31
there's a lot of code behind the interface
8
19095
2174
00:33
that's giving all the instructions
for the computer on how to manage it,
9
21293
3381
00:36
but that interface is the thing
that humans interact with:
10
24698
3031
00:39
when we press on this,
then something happens.
11
27753
2848
00:42
When they first came around,
they were pretty simple
12
30625
2783
00:45
and not particularly glamorous.
13
33432
2072
00:47
Designers today have
a huge range of options.
14
35528
3570
00:51
The hyperlink uses what's called
a markup language -- HTML.
15
39956
4274
00:56
There's a little string of code.
16
44254
1882
00:58
And then you put the address
of where you want to send the person.
17
46160
4023
01:02
It's actually remarkably easy
to learn how to do.
18
50207
2642
01:04
And so, the whole range of references
to information elsewhere on the internet
19
52873
5387
01:10
is the domain of the hyperlink.
20
58284
1962
01:12
Back when I was in school --
21
60903
1507
01:14
this is before people had
wide access to the internet --
22
62434
3460
01:17
if I was going to do a research paper,
23
65918
1817
01:19
I would have to physically walk
to the library,
24
67759
2745
01:22
and if they had the book
that you needed, great.
25
70528
2293
01:24
You sometimes had to send out for it,
26
72845
1833
01:26
so the process could take weeks.
27
74702
1865
01:28
And it's kind of crazy
to think about that now,
28
76591
2905
01:31
because, like all great innovations,
29
79520
3235
01:34
it's not long after
we get access to something
30
82779
2190
01:36
that we start to take it for granted.
31
84993
2270
01:39
Back in 1945,
32
87287
1420
01:40
there was this guy, Vannevar Bush.
33
88731
2579
01:43
He was working for the US government,
34
91334
1993
01:45
and one of the ideas
that he put forth was,
35
93351
2173
01:47
"Wow, humans are creating
so much information,
36
95548
2647
01:50
and we can't keep track
of all the books that we've read
37
98219
3239
01:53
or the connections
between important ideas."
38
101482
2690
01:56
And he had this idea called the "memex,"
39
104196
1957
01:58
where you could put together
a personal library
40
106177
2342
02:00
of all of the books and articles
that you have access to.
41
108543
4063
02:04
And that idea of connecting sources
captured people's imaginations.
42
112630
4729
02:09
Later, in the 1960s,
43
117383
1729
02:11
Ted Nelson launches Project Xanadu,
44
119136
3151
02:14
and he said,
45
122311
1310
02:15
"Well, what if it wasn't just limited
to the things that I have?
46
123645
3029
02:18
What if I could connect ideas
across a larger body of work?"
47
126698
3434
02:23
In 1982, researchers
at the University of Maryland
48
131020
2738
02:25
developed a system they called HyperTIES.
49
133782
2349
02:28
They were the first
to use text itself as a link marker.
50
136155
3445
02:31
They figured out that this blue link
on a gray background
51
139624
3203
02:34
was going to work really well
in terms of contrast,
52
142851
2429
02:37
and people would be able to see it.
53
145304
1786
02:39
Apple invented HyperCard in 1987.
54
147114
2937
02:42
You had these stacks of cards,
55
150716
1935
02:44
and you could create links
in between the cards.
56
152675
2286
02:46
HyperCard actually created the ability
to jump around in a story.
57
154985
5459
02:52
These kinds of notions
of nonlinear storytelling
58
160468
2888
02:55
got a huge boost
when the hyperlink came along,
59
163380
2534
02:57
because it gave people the opportunity
to influence the narrative.
60
165938
4135
03:02
These ideas and inventions, among others,
61
170097
2380
03:04
inspired Tim Berners-Lee,
the inventor of the World Wide Web.
62
172501
3449
03:09
The hyperlink almost feels
like a LEGO block,
63
177246
2270
03:11
this very basic building block
to a very complex web of connections
64
179540
4658
03:16
that exists all around the world.
65
184222
1584
03:17
Because of the way
that hyperlinks were first constructed,
66
185830
2725
03:20
they were intended
to be not only used by many people,
67
188579
3880
03:24
but created by many people.
68
192483
2040
03:26
To me, it's one of the most democratic
designs ever created.
69
194547
4164
Translated by Camille Martínez
Reviewed by Krystian Aparta

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Margaret Gould Stewart - User experience master
At Facebook (and previously at YouTube), Margaret Gould Stewart designs experiences that touch the lives of a large percentage of the world's population.

Why you should listen

Margaret Gould Stewart has spent her career asking, “How do we design user experiences that change the world in fundamental ways?” It's a powerful question that has led her to manage user experiences for six of the ten most visited websites in the world, including Facebook, where she serves as Director of Product Design.

Before joining Facebook, Margaret managed the User Experience Team for YouTube, where she oversaw the largest redesign in the company's history, including the YouTube player page. She came to YouTube after two years leading Search and Consumer Products UX at Google. She approaches her work with a combined appreciation for timeless great design and transient digital technologies, and always with the end goal of improving people's lives. As she says: "Design is creativity in service of others."

More profile about the speaker
Margaret Gould Stewart | Speaker | TED.com