What is a Web Browser?
A Web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music, games and other information typically located on a Web page at a Web site on the World Wide Web or a local area network.
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In other words, Web browsers are the intermediary services applications in between a user and the World Wide Web(WWW) and Web browsers are the software applications that are used to access information from the World Wide Web.
Different Types of Web Browser
If you have a Windows device, you’ll have a browser program called Internet Explorer. If you have an Apple product, then you’ll use a browser called Safari. There are also other browsers available, such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
These are the following web browser as follows :
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is an open-source web browser made by Google. It builds on parts from other open-source software, such as WebKit and Mozilla. The name comes from the graphical user interface frame, or “chrome”, of web browsers. The open-source project behind Google Chrome is known as Chromium.
As of December 2015, StatCounter estimates that Google Chrome has a 58% worldwide usage share of web browsers as desktop browsers. It is also the most popular browser for smartphones and is combined across all platforms at about 45%. Its success has led to Google expanding the ‘Chrome’ brand name on various other products such as the Chromecast.
Safari
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple based on the ‘WebKit’ engine. First released in 2003 with Mac OS X Panther, a mobile version has been included in Apple devices since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. It is the default browser on all Apple devices. A Windows version, now discontinued, was available from 2007 to 2012.
Safari has been designed based on the premise that the most useful browser is one that “gets out of your way and lets you simply enjoy the Web.”
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as a part of Microsoft Windows since 1995. Internet Explorer ships as the default browser for Windows PC’s, tablets, and phones.
Internet Explorer was one of the most widely used web browsers, attaining a peak of about 95% usage share during 2002 and 2003.
The older versions of Internet Explorer (IE 6, 7 and 8) are disastrous and their refusals to die have caused many problems for the Web developers and users. IE 9 and 10 have improved greatly though.
Opera
Unlike the previously mentioned browsers, Opera largely walks to the beat of its own drum. It’s an adventurous browser, though some of its pros could also be considered cons. Opera is smaller but faster than most other browsers, yet it is full of featured. Fast, user-friendly, with a keyboard interface, multiple windows, zoom functions, etc. The browser is known for innovation, such as debuting the speed dial feature that most browsers have since adopted.
Architecture of Web Browser
Domain Name System (DNS)
A domain name is a text name corresponding to the numeric IP address of a computer on the internet. Domain names are used for the convenience of the user. A domain name combines a group of hosts on the internet and a top-level domain.
Domain Name System (DNS) server is a computer having a database that stores the IP addresses and their domain name. Whenever a user uses the domain name, DNS translates it into its corresponding IP address, to access the computer on the internet.
Example:
DNS translates google.com to the IP address of the computer that houses google.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, which means it is a uniform (same throughout the world) way to locate a resource (file or document) on the Internet. The URL specifies the address of a file and every file on the Internet has a unique address. Web software, such as a browser, uses the URL to retrieve a file from the computer on which it resides.
The actual URL is a set of four numbers separated by periods. An example of this would be 202.147.23.8 but as these are difficult for humans to use, addresses are represented in an alphanumeric form that is more descriptive and easy to remember.
Steps of Working of Web Browser
These are the following steps of working of web browser:
Step-01
Firstly, the user enters the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the webpage in the address bar of the web browser.
Step-02.
Next, the web browser requests the Domain Name Server for the IP address corresponding to www.yahoo.com
Step-03
Then, after receiving the IP address, the browser sends the request for the webpage to the Internet by using HTTP protocol which specifies the way the browser and Web Server communicates. The Internet Routers send the request to the intended web server.
Step-04
Then, the web server receives the request using the HTTP protocol. It then examines the hard disk or memory and if the requested file is found it returns it back to the web browser and closes the HTTP connection.
Step-05
Finally, The Web browser then interprets the file and displays the contents of the webpage in the browser window.