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[[ | {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2012}} | ||
[[File:Web browser usage share, May 2017.svg|thumb|[[Usage share of web browsers]] according to [[StatCounter]]]] | |||
[[Category:Web | {{Internet}} | ||
A '''web browser''' (commonly referred to as a '''browser''') is a [[software application]] for accessing information on the [[World Wide Web]]. Each individual [[web page]], image, and video is identified by a distinct [[URL]], enabling browsers to retrieve and display them on the [[User (computing)|user's]] device. | |||
A web browser is not the same thing as a [[search engine]], though the two are often confused.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ |title=What is a Browser? |date=2009-04-30 |publisher=Google (on YouTube) |quote=Less than 8% of people who were interviewed on this day knew what a browser was.}}</ref> For a user, a search engine is just a [[website]], such as [[Google Search|google.com]], that stores searchable data about other websites. But to connect to and display websites on their device, a user needs to have a web browser installed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/internet/difference-between-search-engine-and-browser/ |title=Difference Between Search Engine and Browser}}</ref> | |||
The most popular web browsers are [[Google Chrome|Chrome]], [[Firefox]], [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]], [[Internet Explorer]],<!--note IE still widely used per Market Share below so keep it here--> and [[Microsoft Edge|Edge]]. | |||
==History of the Silk browser== | |||
The first web browser, called [[WorldWideWeb]], was invented in 1990 by Sir [[Tim Berners-Lee]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb.html |title=Tim Berners-Lee: WorldWideWeb, the first Web client |publisher=W3.org |accessdate=2011-12-07}}</ref> He then recruited [[Nicola Pellow]] to write the [[Line Mode Browser]], which displayed web pages on dumb terminals; it was released in 1991.<ref>{{Cite book|title=How the Web was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web|last=Gillies, James; Cailliau, R.|first=|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=0192862073|location=|pages=6}}</ref> | |||
[[File:NPellow.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Nicola Pellow]] and [[Tim Berners-Lee]] in their office at [[CERN]].]] | |||
[[File:Marc Andreessen.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Marc Andreessen]], lead developer of Mosaic and Navigator]] | |||
1993 was a landmark year with the release of [[Mosaic (web browser)|Mosaic]], credited as "the world's first popular browser".<ref name="bloomberg">{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/video/67758394 |title=Bloomberg Game Changers: Marc Andreessen |publisher=Bloomberg |date=17 March 2011 |accessdate=2011-12-07}}</ref> Its innovative graphical interface made the World Wide Web system easy to use and thus more accessible to the average person. This, in turn, sparked the Internet boom of the 1990s when the Web grew at a very rapid rate.<ref name="bloomberg" /> [[Marc Andreessen]], the leader of the Mosaic team, soon started his own company, [[Netscape]], which released the Mosaic-influenced [[Netscape Navigator]] in 1994. Navigator quickly became the [[usage share of web browsers#Reports from before year 2000|most popular browser]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mwdwebsites.com/nj-web-design-web-browsers.html|title=The Evolution of the Web Browsers|last=Enzer|first=Larry|date=August 31, 2018|website=Monmouth Web Developers|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref>. | |||
[[Microsoft]] debuted [[Internet Explorer]] in 1995, leading to a [[browser war]] with Netscape. Microsoft was able to gain a dominant position for two reasons: it bundled Internet Explorer with its popular [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] [[operating system]] and did so as [[freeware]] with no restrictions on usage. Eventually the market share of Internet Explorer peaked at over 95% in 2002.<ref name="searchenginejournal.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.searchenginejournal.com/mozilla-firefox-internet-browser-market-share-gains-to-74/1082/ |title=Mozilla Firefox Internet Browser Market Share Gains to 7.4% |publisher=Search Engine Journal |date=24 November 2004 |accessdate=2011-12-07}}</ref> | |||
[[File:WorldWideWeb FSF GNU.png|thumb|[[WorldWideWeb]] was the first web browser.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_browse.htm|title=Web Browser History|last=Stewart|first=William|accessdate = 5 May 2009}}</ref>]] | |||
In 1998, desperate to remain competitive, Netscape launched what would become the [[Mozilla Foundation]] to create a new browser using the [[open source]] software model. This work evolved into [[Firefox]], first released by Mozilla in 2004. Firefox reached a 28% market share in 2011.<ref name="browsershare">{{cite web|url=http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201108-201108-bar|title=StatCounter Global Stats – Browser, OS, Search Engine including Mobile Usage Share|publisher=|accessdate=2 May 2015}}</ref> | |||
[[Apple Inc.|Apple]] released its [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]] browser in 2003. It remains the dominant browser on Apple platforms, though it never became a factor elsewhere.<ref name="browsershare" /> | |||
The last major entrant to the browser market was [[Google]]. Its [[Google Chrome|Chrome]] browser, which debuted in 2008, has been a huge success. It steadily took market share from Internet Explorer and became the most popular browser in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/internet-explorer-usage-to-plummet-below-50-percent-by-mid-2012/attachment/net-applications-browser-market/ |title=Internet Explorer usage to plummet below 50 percent by mid-2012 |date=3 September 2011 |accessdate=4 September 2011}}</ref><ref name="ChromePassesIE">{{cite web|url=http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201204-201205|title=StatCounter Global Stats – Browser, OS, Search Engine including Mobile Usage Share|publisher=|accessdate=2 May 2015}}</ref> It has [[usage share of web browsers|remained dominant]] ever since. | |||
In terms of technology, browsers have greatly expanded their [[HTML]], [[CSS]], [[JavaScript]], and [[multimedia]] capabilities since the 1990s. One reason has been to enable more sophisticated websites, such as [[web application]]s. Another factor is the significant increase of [[broadband]] connectivity, which enables people to access data-intensive web content, such as [[YouTube]] [[Streaming media|streaming]], that was not possible during the era of [[Dial-up Internet access|dial-up modems]]. | |||
==Function== | |||
The purpose of a web browser is to fetch information resources and display them on a [[User (computing)|user's]] device. | |||
This process begins when the user inputs a [[URL]], such as ''<nowiki>https://en.wikipedia.org/</nowiki>'', into the browser. Virtually all URLs on the Web start with either ''http:'' or ''https:'' which means the browser will retrieve them with the [[Hypertext Transfer Protocol]]. In the case of ''https:'' the communication between the browser and the [[web server]] is [[HTTPS|encrypted]] for the purposes of security and privacy. Another URL prefix is ''file:'' which is used to display [[computer file|local files]] already stored on the user's device. | |||
Once a [[web page]] has been retrieved, the browser's [[browser engine|rendering engine]] displays it on the user's device. This includes image and video formats supported by the browser. | |||
Web pages usually contain [[hyperlink]]s to other pages and resources. Each link contains a URL, and when it is clicked, the browser navigates to the new resource. Thus the process of bringing content to the user begins again. | |||
To implement all of this, modern browsers are a combination of numerous software components.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://taligarsiel.com/Projects/howbrowserswork1.htm|title=Behind the scenes of modern web browsers|publisher=Tali Garsiel|accessdate=12 October 2013}}</ref> | |||
==Features== | |||
{{Details|Comparison of web browsers}} | |||
All major browsers allow the user to open multiple pages at the same time, either in different browser windows or in different [[Tabbed document interface|tabs]] of the same window. They also support the use of [[browser extension|extensions]] to add to or modify browser operation in a variety of ways. | |||
Common [[GUI|user interface]] features of browsers: | |||
* ''Back'' and ''forward'' buttons to go back to the previous page visited or forward to the next one. | |||
* A ''refresh'' or ''reload'' button to reload the current page. | |||
* A ''stop'' button to cancel loading the page. (In some browsers, the stop button is merged with the reload button.) | |||
* A ''home'' button to return to the user's [[home page]]. | |||
* An [[address bar]] to input the [[URL]] of a page and display it. | |||
* A search bar to input terms into a [[web search engine|search engine]]. (In some browsers, the search bar is merged with the address bar.) | |||
==Market share== | |||
[[File:Browser Market Map June 2015.svg|thumb|Most used web browser by country, as of June 2015. | |||
{{Legend|#0B610B|[[Google Chrome]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#FF8000|[[Firefox]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#2E2E2E|[[Safari (web browser)|Safari]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#FFFF00|[[UC Browser|UC]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#808000|[[SRWare Iron|Iron]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#0101DF|[[Internet Explorer]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#FF0000|[[Opera (web browser)|Opera]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#800080|[[Android Browser|Android]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#923939|[[PhantomJS|Phantom]]}} | |||
{{Legend|#D8D8D8|No info}}]] | |||
{{Main|Usage share of web browsers}} | |||
{{bar box | |||
|title=[[StatCounter]] Jan. 2018 desktop share<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/desktop/worldwide/#monthly-201801-201801-bar|title=Desktop Browser Market Share Worldwide |publisher=StatCounter}}</ref> | |||
|titlebar=#DDD | |||
|width=400px | |||
|barwidth=100px | |||
|bars= | |||
{{bar percent|[[Google Chrome]]|#A3D3FF|65.98|65.98%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Mozilla Firefox]]|#A3D3FF|11.87|11.87%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Internet Explorer]]|#A3D3FF|7.28|7.28%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Safari (web browser)|Safari]]|#A3D3FF|5.87|5.87%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Microsoft Edge]]|#A3D3FF|4.11|4.11%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Opera (web browser)|Opera]]|#A3D3FF|2.35|2.35%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[UC Browser]]|#A3D3FF|0.87|0.87%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Yandex Browser]]|#A3D3FF|0.52|0.52%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Cốc Cốc]]|#A3D3FF|0.22|0.22%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[QQ Browser]]|#A3D3FF|0.2|0.2%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Chromium (web browser)|Chromium]]|#A3D3FF|0.13|0.13%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Sogou|Sogou Explorer]]|#A3D3FF|0.12|0.12%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Maxthon]]|#A3D3FF|0.12|0.12%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[PhantomJS]]|#A3D3FF|0.06|0.06%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[360 Secure Browser]]|#A3D3FF|0.06|0.06%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Pale Moon (web browser)|Pale Moon]]|#A3D3FF|0.04|0.04%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Vivaldi (web browser)|Vivaldi]]|#A3D3FF|0.04|0.04%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Mozilla Application Suite|Mozilla Suite]]|#A3D3FF|0.03|0.03%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[SeaMonkey]]|#A3D3FF|0.03|0.03%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Amigo (browser)|Amigo]]|#A3D3FF|0.02|0.02%}} | |||
{{bar percent|[[Naver Whale]]|#A3D3FF|0.01|0.01%}} | |||
{{bar percent|Other|#A3D3FF|0.05|0.05%}} | |||
{{bar gap|height=11}} | |||
}} | |||
==See also== | |||
{{Portal|Internet|Software}} | |||
* [[Mobile browser]] | |||
* [[List of web browsers]] | |||
* [[Timeline of web browsers]] | |||
==References== | |||
{{Reflist|30em}} | |||
==External links== | |||
{{Wikiversity | Web Browser}} | |||
*{{Commons category-inline|Web browsers}} | |||
{{Web browsers}} | |||
{{Early web browsers}} | |||
[[Category:Web browsers| ]] | |||
[[Category:English inventions]] | |||