HyperCard Released

In 1987, Apple Inc. introduced the revolutionary HyperCard software, forever altering personal computing. Created by Bill Atkinson, HyperCard was a groundbreaking hypermedia system that enabled users to create interactive “stacks” of digital cards containing text, graphics and multimedia elements, akin to today’s hypertext and precursor to the World Wide Web.

According to Casey Reas, this software was significant for the development of generative art. As he told Le Random, “HyperCard software was really essential. A lot of poets and a lot of artists were making Hypercard stacks in this multimedia environment to make generative work with.”

HyperCard’s intuitive “stack” structure, combined with a user-friendly interface, empowered individuals, educators and artists to craft interactive content without extensive programming knowledge. It was a pioneering tool for multimedia authoring, paving the way for interactive presentations, educational materials and early digital art, all before the emergence of the World Wide Web in a few short years.

HyperCard also influenced the early web’s aesthetics. According to Thomas Dreher, “Pei-Yuan Wei was inspired by HyperCard when he developed the browser "Viola WWW,” one of the earliest web browsers in the early-90s.