WEB BROWSER
Name Zunaira Shabbir
Roll No. 113
Submitted To Mam Huma Sarwar
Course Code ICT 100
Course Title Introduction To Computer
Credit Hours 3(2-1)
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
GOVERNMENT COLLEGE WOMEN UNIVERSITY, FAISALABAD
July 2022
Definition of Web Browser:
A web browser is a software application that allows a user to locate, access, and display web pages
and is used to access information on the World Wide Web. When a user requests some information,
the web browser fetches the data from a web server and then displays the webpage on the user’s
screen. Web browsers are used primarily for displaying and accessing websites on the internet, as
well as other content created using languages such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and
Extensible Markup Language (XML).
Browsers translate web pages and websites delivered using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
into human-readable content.
The word, ‘browse’ literally means to read or scan. On a computer, browsing means scanning
through the internet. Browsing in a computer is also called surfing.
There is a clear difference between Web Browser and Search Engine but many people don’t know
this difference. Actually, a browser is simply our access to the internet, and a search engine is a
tool for searching the internet. One needs to have browsing software to have access to a search
engine.
Examples of famous search engines are Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., while some of the well-known
browsers are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, etc. Thus, Google is a search engine, while Google
Chrome is a browser.
Operation and Functions of Web browser:
The purpose of a web browser is to fetch content from the Web or from a local storage device and
display it on a user's device.
This process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), such
as https://en.wikipedia.org/ , into some browser. Virtually all URLs on the Web start with
either http: or https: which means the browser will retrieve them with the Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP). In the case of secure mode (HTTPS), the communication between the browser
and the web server is encrypted for the purposes of security and privacy.
Once a web page has been retrieved, the browser's rendering engine displays it on the user's device.
This includes image and video formats supported by the browser. Many web browsers can display
partial content, while the retrieval is still in progress, providing more responsive behavior,
especially on slower network connections.
Web pages usually contain hyperlinks to other pages and resources. Each link contains a URL, and
when it is clicked or tapped, the browser navigates to the new resource. Thus, the process of
bringing content to the user begins again.
Most browsers use an internal cache of web page resources to improve loading times for
subsequent visits to the same page. The cache can store many items, such as large images, so they
do not need to be downloaded from the server again. Cached items are usually only stored for as
long as the web server stipulates in its HTTP response messages.
Our dependency on the Internet has massively increased. Stated below are functions of web
browsers and how are they useful:
The main function is to retrieve information from the World Wide Web and making it
available for users
Visiting any website can be done using a web browser. When a URL is entered in a
browser, the web server takes us to that website
To run Java applets and flash content, plugins are available on the web browser
It makes Internet surfing easy as once we reach a website we can easily check the
hyperlinks and get more and more useful data online
Browsers user internal cache which gets stored and the user can open the same webpage
time and again without losing extra data
Multiple webpages can be opened at the same time on a web browser
Options like back, forward, reload, stop reload, home, etc. are available on these web
browsers, which make using them easy and convenient
History of the Web Browser
I. Tim Berners Lee was the first person who created “World Wide Web” in in 1990.
1990
This is completely different from the World Wide Web that we are using today.
1993 II. In 1993, the “Mosaic” web browser was released. It had the feature of adding images
and an innovative graphical interface. It was the “the world’s first popular
browser”
1994 III. After this, in 1994, Marc Andreessen (leader of Mosaic Team) started working on a
new web browser, which was released and was named “Netscape Navigator”
1995 IV. In 1995, “Internet Explorer” was launched by Microsoft. It soon overtook as the
most popular web browser
2002 V. In 2002, “Mozilla Firefox” was introduced which was equally as competent as
Internet Explorer
VI. Apple too launched a web browser in the year 2003 and named it “Safari”. This
2003 browser is commonly used in Apple devices only and not popular with other devices
2008 VII. Finally, in the year 2008, Google released “Chrome” and within a time span of 3
years it took over all the other existing browsers and is one of the most commonly
used web browsers across the world
Types of Web Browser:
The computer scientists are agreed that the functions of all web browsers are the almost same.
However, evolution takes place in the development with the passage of time and they become
more and more sophisticated over the years.
The following Seven (07) types of web browsers are important and their specific features are listed
below:
1. World Wide Web (www)
It was launched in 1990
The first web browser ever
Had the very basic features and less interactive in terms of graphical interface
It was later named “Nexus”.
Did not have the feature of bookmark.
2. Mosaic
It was launched in 1993
The second web browser which was launched
Marc Andreessen was the leader of team which was responsible for creating Mosaic
Had a better graphical interface. Images, text and graphics could all be integrated
It was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
It was named “the world’s first popular browser”
3. Netscape Navigator
It was released in 1994
In the 1990s, it was the dominant browser in terms of usage share
More versions of this browser were launched by Netscape
It had an advanced licensing scheme and allowed free usage for non-commercial purposes
4. Internet Explorer
It was launched in 1995 by Microsoft
By 2003, it has attained almost 95% of usage share and had become the most popular
browsers of all
Close to 10 versions of Internet Explorer were released by Microsoft and were updated
gradually
It was included in the Microsoft Windows operating system
In 2015, it was replaced with “Microsoft Edge”, as it became the default browser on
Windows 10
5. Firefox
It was introduced in 2002 and was developed by Mozilla Foundation
Firefox overtook the usage share from Internet Explorer and became the dominant browser
during 2003-04
Location-aware browsing was made available with Firefox
This browser was also made available for mobile phones, tablets, etc.
6. Google Chrome
It was launched in 2008 by Google
It is a cross-platform web browser
Multiple features from old browsers were amalgamated to form better and newer features
To save computers from malware, Google developed the ad-blocking feature to keep the
user data safe and secure
Incognito mode is provided where private searching is available where no cookies or
history is saved
Till date, it has the best user interface
7. Opera Mini
Opera Mini web browser was introduced in 2005
It was specially designed for mobile users.
Before the mobile version, the computer version “Opera” was also released in 1995.
It supported a decent user interface and was developed by Opera Software.
General features of a modern web browser:
Navigation buttons. Refresh button is used to go back and forward while browsing. ...
Refresh button. Refresh buttons is used to force web browser to reload webpage. ...
Stop button.
Home button.
Web browser's address bar.
Integrated search.
Tabbed browsing.
Bookmark buttons.
