ZOG (hypertext)

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ZOG was an early hypertext system developed at Carnegie Mellon University during the 1970s by Donald McCracken and Robert Akscyn. The name "ZOG" is not an acronym and does not stand for anything.

ZOG was first started in 1972 as a large database for use in a multiuser environment. The project was as an outgrowth of artificial intelligence research initially organized by Allen Newell. ZOG consisted of frames that contained a title, a description, a line containing ZOG system commands, and selections (menu items) that led to other frames. ZOG pioneered the "frame" or "card" model of hypertext later popularized by HyperCard. In such systems, the frames or cards cannot scroll to show content that is part of the same document but held offscreen. Instead, text that exceeds the capacity of one screen must be placed in another (which then constitutes a separate frame or card).

The ZOG database became fully functional around 1977. In 1982, ZOG was ported from the original IBM mainframe version to the Three Rivers PERQ workstation and was used on the American aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. In spite of ZOG's capabilities, it was a text-only system. McCracken and Akscyn later went on to develop KMS, an improved version of ZOG.