hotlink

1. A connection between two files that automatically updates one whenever the other is updated.
2. See link¹ (sense 7).

In systems, such as the World Wide Web where the text can be written using a specific coded language so that it contains links to other documents (hypertext), a reference to another document that when clicked on will take the user to the other document. See also html authoring software; link.

A connection between programs that lets the user change information in one program while the computer changes the same information in the programs linked to it. Objects may be linked by Ole or the older DDE (dynamic data exchange) method.

A hot spot on a World Wide Web page; an area, which, when clicked or selected, chases a URL. Also spelled ‘hot link’. Use of this term focuses on the link's role as an immediate part of your display, as opposed to the timeless sense of logical connection suggested by web pointer. Your screen shows hotlinks but your document has web pointers, not (in normal usage) the other way around.