SNS e-Learning

Authoring tool, authorware

A program that helps you write (1) hypertext or multimedia applications. Authoring tools usually enable you to create a final application (2) merely by linking together objects, such as a paragraph of text, an illustration, or a song. By defining the objects' relationships to each other, and by (3) sequencing them in an appropriate order, authors (those who use authoring tools) can produce attractive and useful graphics applications. Most authoring systems also support a scripting language for more sophisticated applications.

The distinction between authoring tools and programming tools is not clear-cut. (4)Typically, though, authoring tools require less technical knowledge to master and are used (5) exclusively for applications that present a mixture of textual, graphical, and audio data. Also known as authorware.

(1) hypertext ['haipə'tekst]    超文本
n.  machine-readable text that is not sequential but is organized so that related items of information are connected; "Let me introduce the word hypertext to mean a body of written or pictorial material interconnected in such a complex way that it could not conveniently be presented or represented on paper"--Ted Nelson

(2) merely [ˈmiəli] 仅仅，只不过
merely  adv.  and nothing more; simply, just, only, but

(3) sequence [ˈsi:kwəns] 连续，接续，一连串；次序，顺序
n.1. serial arrangement in which things follow in logical order or a recurrent pattern
v.1. arrange in a sequence   2. determine the order of constituents in   They sequenced the human genome

(4) typically ['tipikəli]     典型的; 有代表性的
adv.  in a typical manner    Tom was typically hostile

(5) exclusively [ikˈsklu:sivli] 排他地(独占地,专门地,仅仅,只)
adv.  without any others being included or involved; entirely, solely, alone, only