A fundamental element to access the internet is the browser, a software specially dedicated to visiting various pages easily, lightly and so that the user can live a complete experience, but, Do you know exactly what a web browser is?
Many times it is striking that the elements that we use the most, we do not know how to give them a formal definition. In this article We will explain to you in a concrete way what a web browser is, its uses and a bit of history about it.
What is a web browser
We can quickly and easily define the web browser as a software that allows you to visit various places on the internet, and allows you to view text, images, videos and any other material.
Web browsers regularly translate a series of labels and codes to be displayed in a friendly way on our devices.
This type of computer tools allows you to visit websites from all over the world, focused on faithfully displaying the elements proposed by web designers and developers.
How a web browser works
For the user, it is common to enter a domain and when clicking, observe the content in an orderly manner with all its elements. However, its operation goes beyond that.
To retrieve the information, a browser requires the transfer of data through a Hypertext Transfer Protocol, known by its acronym HTTP. In this way, the text and multimedia files reach our computer or mobile device.
The browser needs a structure to organize the information as it is expected to be presented. One of the elements that gives structure to websites is HTML, an acronym for Hypertext Makeup Languege, a system that by means of labels organizes the information and other elements.
Another fundamental element today for the visual part of websites is CCS Cascading Style Sheets, a structure that gives style in a coded way and that the browser interprets, organizes and displays.
Not all web browser developers carry out their work in the same way, as well as the interpretation of the format of the website, it can result in a different way or even under another format.
At the user level, this can mean that a website works, but looks different than originally designed, detracting from the web browsing experience.
To mitigate this problem, web standards were created, these ensure that the user, regardless of the browser, enjoys the design and content proposed by the owner of the website.
Most popular web browsers
One advantage of the globalization of the Internet is the diversification of web browsers, which despite currently managing the same standards in terms of visiting websites, allow the customization of tools and other elements.
Between the most popular web browsers currently are:
Google Chrome
Chrome was developed by the technology giant Google, it is currently one of the most used browsers in the world.
Officially released in the year 2008, derived from open source, but with closed source modifications. Its name comes from the English term used for the graphical interface.
To date it has been translated into 47 languages and can be downloaded completely free of charge from the project's website.
Mozilla Firefox
It is an open source browser, launched in 2004 by the Mozilla Foundation. Part of its success is the Gecko engine used to render web pages.
Mozilla Firefox It has been translated into more than 90 languages and is very popular, thanks to the security of its data, speed and use of web standards.
Its development is based on various programming languages, the best known, C++ and JavaScript, elements that give robustness and stability of use to the browser.
Opera
Developed by the Norway-based company, Opera Software. This web browser It has been created to be installed on a large number of platforms.
Currently the browser Opera They have more than 350 million users around the world, being another of the most popular internet software.
It was initially noted for a VPN (Virtual Private Network) tool included in the software. This allowed the real IP address of the user to be masked, a system that offers greater privacy.
Microsoft Edge
Formerly called Microsoft Internet Explorer, it is the default browser of the Windows operating system. Its development was based on another open source browser called Chromium and its launch was made public in July 2015.. Microsoft Edge is currently available for other systems, such as Linux and Mac.
The previous version of Microsoft Edge, despite being one of the first browsers, had unattractive and obsolete elements, which also changed the design of the pages visited.
Apple Safari
It is a closed source web browser, developed by the computer giant Apple, initially exclusive to your mobile and desktop devices. As of 2012, Safari was released for Windows.
Its official launch was in January 2004 and its LGPL rendering engine, designed by Apple for software.
Apple Safari offers excellent customization to its elements and functionalities, which makes it very attractive for its users.
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