What is Browser? - Digital Web

Web browsers, often referred to just as browsers, are software applications used to locate and display Web pages on the World Wide Web. While this is the most popular usage, browsers can also be used to access and view content on a private or local network as well. Most, but not all browsers are graphical browsers, which means that they can display graphics as well as text. In addition, most modern browsers can present multimedia information, including sound and video, though they require plug-ins for some formats. For the purpose of this article, we'll be focusing on how browsers work to access the World Wide Web.

How Web Browsers Work ?

The World Wide Web is a system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. AWeb browsers are used to make it easy to access the World Wide Web. Browsers are able to display Web pages largely in part to an underlying Web protocol called HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. It is what allows Web clients and Web servers to communicate with each other. When you enter a Web address (URL) in your browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page and display the information in your browser. All Web servers serving Web sites and pages support the HTTP protocol.

Example: The URL to reach the definition of browser on Google is: http://www.Google.com/browser.html

Once you enter the URL "http://www.google.com/browser.html" into your address line, the browser breaks that Web address down into three distinct parts.

1. The Protocol: "http"
   
2. The server name: "www.google.com"
   
3. The file name, which follows the server name: "browser.html"

In order for your browser to actually connect to the Web server to retrieve the information you request, it communicates with a name server to translate the server name into an IP address. Your Web browser is then able to connect to the Web server at the resolved IP address on port 80. Once your browser has connected to the Web server using HTTP, the browser then reads the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web, and the data is then displayed in your Web browser.

Most Popular Web Browsers
A Web browser is actually a software application which runs on your Internet-connected computer. It allows you to view Web pages, as well as utilize other content and technologies such as video, graphics files, and digital certificates, to name a few. Some browsers will translate only text while others do support graphics and animation. Web browsers are not all created equal, and Web pages also will not be displayed the same in different browsers.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) is currently considered the dominant browser. IE version 7X offers tabbed browsing, instant access to e-mail, integrated RSS support, better standards compliance, a built-in phishing filter, advanced security (cross-domain script barriers, International Domain Name Anti-Spoofing protection and so on), and an option for deleting browsing history by removing user-identifiable information. The latest version of IE supports Windows XP, Windows 2003.

Mozilla Firefox Web browser

Mozilla Firefox is a free, open source, cross-platform, Web browser developed by the Mozilla Corp. and hundreds of volunteers. Mozilla Corporation is responsible for the browser, where volunteers and enthisiasts have created many of the plug-ins available for the browser. Firefox offers support for many standards including HTML, HTML, XML, XHTML, CSS, ECMAScript (JavaScript), DTD, XSL, SVG, XPath and PNG images. The browser can also be used on a variety of operating systems such as Windows, Mac OSX, BeOS, FreeBSD, Linux, and others. Industry statistic show that around 12 percent of Internet users are using Mozilla Firefox.

Opera Web browser


Opera is an international Web browser, developed in Norway. It is available for Windows 3.x and Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP/2003 in four different languages. The most current release, Opera 9x, includes widgets, support for BitTorrents, support for a wide variety of image, audio, and video formats, as well as enhanced HTML features, JavaScript, server push capabilities, Opera e-mail, voice technology, and client side image mapping.

Netscape

The first commercial Web browser was Netscape. The latest version is available for Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98 SE and Windows ME. Netscape Browser 8x is the next-generation release of Netscape's venerable and once extremely popular Web browser. Version 8.0 is based on code from company spin-off Mozilla, borrowing much of the functionality and format from the increasingly popular Firefox browser. The Netscape browser offers integrated pop-up controls, tabbed browsing features, and a password manager, but the most interesting and unique feature is the dual rendering and layout engines that allow users to switch between Firefox and IE.