Introduction to web browsers

Web browsers have come a long way since the days of the Internet’s first web browser, Mosaic and the like. The Internet Explorer monopoly created by Microsoft has been decisively broken and possibly ended forever. Today’s web browsers have gone from being a mere internet browsing tool to being a multi-purpose application that offers several advantages to the web visitor. A web browser is defined as a software application, a typical HTTP client that helps the Internet visitor to interpret HTML documents and display content from web servers or file systems. Featured browsers available for personal computers include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Netscape, etc. A browser is the most widely used type of user agent. The largest networked collection of linked documents is known as the World Wide Web.

Web browsers communicate with web servers primarily using HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) to retrieve web pages. HTTP allows web browsers to send information to web servers, as well as retrieve web pages from them. The most widely used HTTP is HTTP/1.1. Web pages are located using a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which is treated as an address, beginning with http: for HTTP access. Many browsers also support a variety of other URL types and their corresponding protocols, such as ftp – for FTP (File Transfer Protocol), gopher – for Gopher, and https – for HTTPS (an SSL encrypted version of HTTP).

The generally accepted file format for a web page is usually HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and is identified in the HTTP protocol by a MIME content type. Most browsers certainly support technology formats other than HTML, such as JPEG, PNG, and GIF image formats, and can be extended to support more through the use of plugins. The combination of the HTTP content type and the URL protocol specification allows web page designers to embed images, animations, video, sound, and streaming media on a web page, or make them accessible through the web page.

At first, web browsers only supported a very simple version of HTML. The rapid development of web browsers led to the development of HTML into more complex avatars. Modern web browsers support standards-based HTML and XHTML, which should display the same way in all browsers. Today’s websites are designed using WYSIWYG HTML generation programs such as Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft Frontpage. There is ongoing development activity in standards development, specifically with XHTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets, used for page layout). Some of the most popular browsers include additional components to support Usenet news, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), and email. Supported protocols may include NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), and POP (Post Office Protocol).

Different browsers have unique built-in features due to the features they provide and the functions they support. Modern browsers and web pages tend to use many features and techniques that did not exist in the early days of the web. The following is a list of some of the more notable features:

– HTTP and HTTPS
– HTML, XML and XHTML
-GIF, PNGJPEG and SVG
– Cascading style sheets
-JavaScript
– Digital certificates
-RSS
– Markers
– Caching
– Plugins like Macromedia Flash and QuickTime.

Other features generally include:
– Autocomplete
– Tabbed browsing
– space navigation
– Caret navigation
– screen reader
– Pop-ups blocker
– Ad filtering
– Identity fraud

Web browsers have established themselves today as the most user-friendly and essential technological tool for browsing the Internet. Web browsers help visitors to the ethereal world of the web to view content of different file formats, interact with other websites, incorporate appropriate technology for viewing/downloading/uploading media content, and streaming media. Today’s web browsers provide features such as blocking unwanted pop-up ads, spyware, and phishing attempts. They provide the convenience of tabbed browsing and come with advanced features like autofill and password and download managers.

Today’s web browsers are not mere messengers between client and server. They are complete programs capable of using fuzzy logic to select the most appropriate content and help the web visitor navigate safely and pleasantly.