File transfer programs allow you to get a copy of a document from a computer thousands of miles away in minutes. Discussion list and bulletin board programs of many sizes, shapes and descriptions allow you to hold an on-going, international conference on any subject you choose. Some programs provide tables of contents to the internet's resources, which include texts, pictures, sounds and motion pictures in digital form. Still others are automated indexes to printed resources. The most revolutionary of programs on the internet generate and display texts in hypertextual ways.
Hypertext allows articles and books to be connected with other texts on the internet.
A scholarly piece in hypertext can be connected directly to its footnoted sources. Let's suppose, for example, you are reading through a Muhlenberg letter in hypertext. Muhlenberg soon refers to a scripture verse. You notice that the citation is in bold print. You use your computer's to point an on screen arrow to it and push a button.