Web Browsers

A browser is an application program that allows interaction with information on the World Wide Web. The word ‘browser’ originated prior to the Web as a generic term for user interfaces that let you browse text files online. The first ever web browser Nexus was developed by Tim Berners-Lee and was released in March 1991.

1) Mosaic - Several other browsers were developed in the subsequent two years but the most important was NCSA Mosaic which was developed by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina from NCSA and released in February 1993. The 2.0 version of Mosaic, released in January 1994 was the first browser to actually show images embedded in the text, rather than in a separate window.

2) Netscape Navigator - Netscape Navigator was developed for Windows and Macintosh besides others. In response to competition from Microsoft Internet Explorer, it was distributed with numerous other features. It’s codebase was later spun into Mozilla, which is the ancestor of Firefox.

Browser Features

Available web browsers range in features from minimal, text-based user interfaces with bare-bones support for HTML to rich user interfaces supporting a wide variety of file formats and protocols. Browsers which include additional components to support e-mail, Usenet news, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC), are sometimes referred to as ‘Internet suites’ rather than merely ‘web browsers’. All major web browsers allow the user to open multiple information resources at the same time, either in different browser windows or in different tabs of the same window. Most web browsers can display a list of web pages that the user has bookmarked so that the user can quickly return to them. Bookmarks are also called ‘Favourites’ in Internet Explorer. In addition, all major web browsers have some form of built-in web feed aggregator. In Mozilla Firefox, web feeds are formatted as ‘live bookmarks’ and behave like a folder of bookmarks corresponding to recent entries in the feed. In Opera, a more traditional feed reader is included which stores and displays the contents of the feed. Furthermore, most browsers can be extended via plug-ins, downloadable components that provide additional features.

All Time Favourite Web Browsers

8 Google Chrome - Runs with lightning speed and is a free, cross-platform graphical web browser developed by Google. The current version Google Chrome is Chrome 9.

8 Mozilla Firefox - Is a free, open source, cross-platform web browser developed by Mozilla Corp. and hundreds of volunteers. The current version of Firefox is 3.6.13.

8 Opera Web browser - The most current, Opera 10.10 includes widgets, support for BitTorrents, supports a variety of formats,has enhanced HTML features, JavaScript besides other cool features.

8 Safari - Safari from Apple comes pre-installed with Mac OS and has an exciting look. Safari 4 is the latest version and is free for use.

8 Internet Explorer - Internet Explorer 9 is latest version of IE. It is a component of windows which means that it comes pre-installed with Windows OS. It is also free to download and use.