Index-based hyperlinks

We propose a new mechanism for implicitly specifying hyperlinks in HTML documents using indices. Indices are dictionaries that associate keys (words or phrases) with one or more attributes. Indices maintain these key/attribute bindings over all or part of a document, and are used by browsers to create hyperlinks dynamically. Indices may also include bindings of other indices, in a hierarchical fashion. We argue that indices are both simpler and more general than the current HTML hyperlink mechanism. We have developed a prototype browser that uses index-based hyperlinks.