Web browser: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:16, 21 March 2025

Revision as of 04:05, 22 March 2025

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[[File:Safari 15.png|thumb|right|A web browser ([[Safari (web browser)|Safari]]) displaying a [[web page]]]]

A '''web browser''' (often shortened to '''browser''') is an [[Application software|application]] for accessing [[websiteweb pages]] and [[web navigation|navigating the Internet]]s. When a [[User (computing)|user]] requestsvisits a [[web pagewebsite]] from a particular website, the browser retrievesrequests itsthe [[Computerweb file|files]]page from a [[web server]] or their local [[filesystem]] and then displays the page on the user's screenit. Browsers arecan usedalso onbe aused rangeto ofaccess devices,web includingpages [[desktophosts computer(file)|desktopshosted]], on the local [[laptopfilesystem]]s, (often called [[tablet computer|tabletslocalhost]],) andor [[smartphoneComputer network|network]]s configuration pages.

Browsers are used on a range of devices, including [[desktop computer|desktops]], [[laptop]]s, [[tablet computer|tablets]], and [[smartphone]]s. As of 2025, the most used browsers worldwide are [[Google Chrome]] (66% [[market share]]), [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]] (18%), [[Microsoft Edge|Edge]] (5%), [[Firefox]] (3%), [[Samsung Internet]] (2%), and [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] (2%).<ref name="statcounter">{{cite web |title=Browser Market Share Worldwide |url=https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share |access-date=21 March 2025 |publisher=[[StatCounter]]}}</ref> As of 2023, an estimated 5.4 billion people had used a browser.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Internet Users Statistics and 2023 World Population Stats|url=https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523140912/https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm|access-date=21 March 2025 |website=www.internetworldstats.com|archive-date=23 May 2024|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Function==

[[File:Web browser demo.webm|thumb|Navigating to [[English Wikipedia]] using a web browser ([[Firefox]])]]

The purpose of a web browser is to fetch content and [[browser engine|display]] it on the user's device.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reference.com/humanities-culture/purpose-browser-e61874e41999ede|title=What Is the Purpose of a Web Browser?|date=4 August 2015}}</ref> This process begins when the user inputs a [[Uniform Resource Locator]] (URL), such as ''<code><nowiki>https://en.wikipedia.org/</nowiki></code>'', into the browser's [[address bar]]. Virtually all URLs on [[World Wide Web|the Web]] start with either ''<code>http:</code>'' or ''<code>https:</code>'' which means they are retrieved with the [[HTTP|Hypertext Transfer Protocol]] (HTTP). For [[HTTPS|secure mode]] (HTTPS), the connection between the browser and [[web server]] is [[encryption|encrypted]], providing a [[communications security|secure]] and [[information privacy|private]] data transfer.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/HTTP-Hypertext-Transfer-Protocol|title=What is HTTP and how does it work? Hypertext Transfer Protocol Definition|website=WhatIs.com}}</ref> For this reason, a web browser is often referred to as an HTTP client<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steelman |first=Liz |date=2024-07-28 |title=What Is a Web Browser? Web Browser Definition |url=https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/web-browser |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=wix-encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=HTTP |url=https://paws.wcu.edu/holliday/cware/Web/HTTP.html |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=paws.wcu.edu}}</ref> or a [[user agent]]. Browsers can also be used to open files such as [[HTML]] files from the local filesystem (often called [[localhost]]), or to visit [[Computer network|network]] configuration pages.

Web pages usually contain [[hyperlink]]s to other pages and resources. Each link contains a URL, and when it is [[point and click|clicked]] or [[touchscreen|tapped]], the browser navigates to the new resource. Most browsers use an internal [[web cache|cache]] of web page resources to improve loading times for subsequent visits to the same page. The cache can store many items, such as large images, so they do not need to be downloaded from the server again. Cached items are usually only stored for as long as the web server stipulates in its HTTP response messages.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nguyen |first1=Hoai Viet |last2=Lo Iacono |first2=Luigi |last3=Federrath |first3=Hannes |chapter=Systematic Analysis of Web Browser Caches |date=2018-10-03 |title=Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Web Studies |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1145/3240431.3240443 |series=WS.2 2018 |___location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=64–71 |doi=10.1145/3240431.3240443 |isbn=978-1-4503-6438-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mishra |first1=Vikas |last2=Laperdrix |first2=Pierre |last3=Rudametkin |first3=Walter |last4=Rouvoy |first4=Romain |date=2021-04-01 |title=Déjà vu: Abusing Browser Cache Headers to Identify and Track Online Users |url=https://petsymposium.org/popets/2021/popets-2021-0033.php |journal=Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies |language=en |volume=2021 |issue=2 |pages=391–406 |doi=10.2478/popets-2021-0033 |issn=2299-0984|hdl=20.500.12210/57495 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

A web browser is not the same thing as a [[search engine]], though the two are often confused.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/o4MwTvtyrUQ| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=What is a Browser? |date=30 April 2009 |publisher=Google (on YouTube) |quote=Less than 8% of people who were interviewed on this day knew what a browser was.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.mozilla.org/en/internet-culture/mozilla-explains/internet-search-engine-browser/ |title=What is the difference between the internet, browsers, search engines and websites? |date=17 June 2021|publisher=Mozilla |quote=Let’s start by breaking down the differences between the internet, browsers, search engine, and websites. Lots of us get these four things confused with each other.}}</ref> A search engine is a website that provides [[hyperlink|links]] to other websites and allows users to search for specific resources using a textual [[Web query|query]]. However, web browsers are often used to access search engines, and most modern browsers allow users to access a default search engine directly by typing a query into the [[address bar]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Manasa |first=D. |date=19 July 2011 |title=Difference Between Search Engine and Browser |url=https://www.differencebetween.net/technology/internet/difference-between-search-engine-and-browser/ |website=differencebetween.net}}</ref>

===Privacy===

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* A ''refresh'' or ''reload'' and a ''stop'' button to reload and cancel loading the current page. (In most browsers, the stop button is merged with the reload button.)

* A ''home'' button to return to the [[home page|start page]].

* An [[address bar]] to input the [[URL]] of a page and display it, and a search bar to input [[web query|queries]] into a [[search engine]]. (In most browsers, the search bar is merged with the address bar.)

While [[mobile browser]]s have similar UI features as [[desktop computer|desktop]] versions, the limitations of [[touchscreen|touch screen]]s require mobile UIs to be simpler.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Simon |title=The Limitations Of Touch Interfaces |url=https://thisisglance.com/the-limitations-of-touch-interfaces/ |website=Glance |date=29 March 2019 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> The difference is significant for users accustomed to [[keyboard shortcut]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chrome keyboard shortcuts |url=https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/157179 |publisher=Google Inc. |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> The most popular desktop browsers also have sophisticated [[web development tools]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 June 2012 |title=Browsers are the new IDE for Web Development |url=https://devworks.thinkdigit.com/Software/Browsers-are-the-new-IDE-for-Web_9995.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702141638/http://devworks.thinkdigit.com/Software/Browsers-are-the-new-IDE-for-Web_9995.html |archive-date=2 July 2012 |website=devworks.thinkdigit.com}}</ref>