Browser
Browser For navigation For search
A browser is a program for opening websites When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves the files from the web servers and then displays the page on the user's screen Web browsers are used on a variety of devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones In 2020, around 49 billion people used the browser[1] The most used browser is Google Chrome with a global market share of 65% across all devices, followed by Safari with an 18% market share[2]
A browser is not the same as a search engine, although they are often confused A search engine is a website that provides links to other websites In order to connect to the website's server and view web pages, the user must have a web browser installed In some technical contexts, browsers are referred to as user agents
Functionality
View with a browser (Firefox)
The purpose of a browser is to retrieve content from the World Wide Web or local storage and display it on the user's device[6] This process begins when a user enters a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) such as https://enwikipediaorg/ into the browser Almost all URLs are obtained using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is a set of rules for data transfer If the URL uses HTTP Secure Mode (HTTPS), the connection between the browser and the web server is an encrypted communication for security and privacy reasons[7]
Web pages typically contain links to other websites and resources Each link contains a URL, and when you click or tap on it, the browser switches to the new interface Most browsers use an internal cache of webpage resources to reduce loading times on subsequent visits to the same page Multiple objects, eg Large images, for example, can be pinned so they don't have to be reloaded from the server[8] Cached objects are typically only retained for the time specified in the web server's HTTP response message[9]
Data protection
When navigating, the browser stores cookies that it has received from various websites Some of them contain login information or website settings[10] However, others are used to track user activity over longer periods of time, so browsers usually provide a way to delete cookies[10] More accurate processing of cookies usually requires a browser add-on[11]
History
Left to right: Nicola Pellow and Tim Berners-Lee in 1992; Marc Andreessen 2007
Article: History of the web browser
See also: Timeline of the web browser
The first web browser, called the World Wide Web, was developed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1990[12][13] He then hired Nicola Pellow to write a browser that would display web pages on dumb terminals[14] The Mosaic browser was launched in April 1993 and later became the first mainstream browser[15][16] Thanks to the innovative graphical user interface, surfing the World Wide Web has become easy and thus more accessible for ordinary people This re-ignited the internet boom of the 1990s when the web grew very rapidly[16] Marc Andreessen, leader of the Mosaic team, founded his own company Netscape, which launched the Netscape Navigator in 1994 under Mosaic's influence.Microsoft released Internet Explorer in 1995, which led to a browser war with Netscape Microsoft has achieved a dominant position in the browser market in a few years for two reasons: It combined Internet Explorer with the popular Microsoft Windows operating system as free software with no usage restrictions Internet Explorer's market share rose to over 95 percent in the early 2000s[18] In 1998, Netscape later founded the Mozilla Foundation to develop a new browser based on the open source software model
Google launched the Chrome browser in 2008 and steadily took market share from Internet Explorer to become the most popular browser in 2012[21][22] Since then, Chrome has dominated[2] In 2015, Microsoft replaced Internet Explorer with Edge in the Windows 10 version[23] Since the early 2000s, browsers have greatly expanded their HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and multimedia capabilities One reason was the advent of more complex websites such as
modern web applications
time
6734%
Microsoft Edge
1081%
Safari (browser)
893%
Mozilla Firefox
728%
opera
29%
Internet Explorer
084%
See also:
Share of browsers used The most used browser worldwide is Google Chrome with a global market share of 65% of all devices[2] Google Chrome is based on Google's free and open-source Chromium software project and is a central part of Google's Chrome operating system Apple Safari has the second largest market share worldwide with 18 percent [2], while Microsoft's Edge has the second largest market share among desktop computers [24] Safari is based on WebKit and is the default browser on Mac computers[26] Introduced in 2015, Microsoft Edge is the default browser on computers running Windows 10 and 11[23] Firefox from the Mozilla Foundation is the second most popular desktop browser[24] and, unlike some of the more well-known products, is free and open source[27]
Some other browsers have become popular due to increased customization and privacy concerns[28] Some of these browsers also have built-in ad blocking features[28] Examples are Brave, Epic, Maxthon and Opera[28] The Tor browser provides access to the anonymous Tor network[28] Tor provides access to the dark web and repeatedly encrypts traffic to protect privacy[28] Other browsers have a small market share compared to standard browsers; For example, Opera is clearly the leading browser of choice with 249 percent market share in October 2022[2]
Features The
Most common browsers have many features in common They save your browsing history automatically or can be used in private offline mode They also allow users to set bookmarks, customize browsers with extensions, and manage user passwords[29] Some offer synchronization services and web access features [citation needed]
The traditional browser model places user interface features above the page content
Most browsers share common user interface features, such as eg: [related reference]
Allows the user to open multiple pages at the same time, either in different browser windows or in different tabs in the same window
Previous and Next buttons to return to a previously visited page or move to the next page
A refresh or reload button and a stop button to load the current page and stop recording (In most browsers, the stop button is combined with the reload button) Home A button
to return to the user's home page
Address: In the field you can enter the URL of the page and its screen, and in the hot field you can enter terms into the search engine (Most browsers have the search bar merged with the address bar)
Although mobile browsers have similar interface features to the desktop version, the limitations of touchscreens require a simpler mobile interface[30] The difference is significant for users accustomed to keyboard shortcuts [31] Most popular desktop applications also have
advanced
browsers
Browser vendors regularly fix these security flaws, so students are advised to update their browser software Other security measures include antivirus software and avoiding known malicious websites
Browser vulnerabilities typically aim to prevent protection of the display of contextual advertising [, the collection of personal identification information for online marketing or identity theft, web tracking or web analytics from the user against their will, using tools such as for example web bugs, clickjacking, like jacking (targets the Facebook Like button),HTTP cookies, Zombie cookies or Flash cookies (Local Shared Objects or LSO) [best required resource] adware, viruses, spyware eg B installing trojans (to gain access to users' computers by hacking) or other malware, including stealing online banking through a browser
