The Origins of the Underline as Visual Representation of the Hyperlink on the Web: A Case Study in Skeuomorphism

Abstract

This thesis investigates the process by which the underline came to be used as the default signifier of hyperlinks on the World Wide Web. Created in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the web quickly became the most used hypertext system in the world, and most browsers default to indicating hyperlinks with an underline. To answer the question of why the underline was chosen over competing demarcation techniques, the thesis applies the methods of history of technology and sociology of technology. Before the invention of the web, the underline–also known as the vinculum–was used in many contexts in writing systems; collecting entities together to form a whole and ascribing additional meaning to the content. This early usage made the underline a natural choice, semantically, as a hyperlink signifier. The technological context in which the web was created also played a significant role in the use of the underline. Early computer systems were limited in their display capacities and the interfaces created on them were influenced by these constraints. Specifically, the NeXT computer on which Berners-Lee developed the web made underlining text very simple using its Interface Builder software. The combination of the existing semantic meaning of the underline in written language, coupled with the affordances of contemporary computer systems resulted in the commonplace use of the underline to signify hyperlinks.