Web navigator

A web browser (in English, web browser) is a software, application or program that allows access to the Web, interpreting information from different types of files and websites so that they can be seen.

The basic functionality of a web browser is to allow the display of text documents, possibly with embedded multimedia resources. In addition, it allows you to visit web pages and do activities on it, that is, link one site to another, print, send and receive emails, among other functions.

Documents displayed in a browser can be located on the user's computer and can also be on any other device connected to the user's computer or via the Internet, and that has the necessary resources for the transmission of documents (a web server software).

Such documents, commonly called web pages, contain hyperlinks or hyperlinks that link a portion of text or an image to another document, usually related to the text or image.

Following links from one page to another, located on any computer connected to the Internet, is called browsing, from which comes the name browser (applied to both the program and the person who uses it). uses it, which is also called cybernaut). On the other hand, browser is a literal translation of the original in English, browser, although its use is minority.

Web browsers have become the most popular tools for accessing the Internet. For this reason, exploiting their vulnerabilities have become a very interesting target to attack the computer systems in which they are installed. The interest is such that automatic tools have been developed to exploit vulnerabilities in browsers.

History

The WorldWideWeb was the first web browser developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, by NeXT Computer-based equipment.

The first browser was developed by Tim Berners-Lee, at CERN, in 1990; the web browser called WorldWideWeb was quite sophisticated and graphical, but it only worked on NexT stations.

The Mosaic browser, which initially worked in Unix environments on top of XFree86 (X11), was the first to be extended because the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) soon prepared versions for Windows and Macintosh.

However, Netscape Navigator soon entered the market and quickly surpassed Mosaic in capabilities and speed. This browser had the advantage of running on almost all Unix systems, and also in Windows environments.

Internet Explorer (formerly Spyglass Mosaic) was Microsoft's late bet to enter the market and managed to unseat Netscape Navigator among Windows users, due to the integration of the browser with the operating system, eventually owning about 95% of the market share. Netscape Communications Corporation released the source code of its browser, thus giving birth to the Mozilla project.

Finally Mozilla (Mozilla Application Suite) was rewritten from scratch after deciding to develop and use as a base a new set of cross-platform widgets based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) called XUL and this caused it to take much longer to appear than initially planned, appearing in a high quality version 1.0 and for many platforms at the same time on June 5, 2002.

On January 7, 2003, Apple released the Safari web browser. This browser takes over almost the entire market for Mac microcomputers, due to its speed and large number of updates. Likewise, it also enters the market of the Windows operating system.

At the end of 2004, Mozilla Firefox appeared on the market, a development branch of Mozilla that intends to take over part of the Internet Explorer market.

On September 2, 2008, Google Chrome appears on the market. It is the web browser developed by Google and compiled based on open source components such as the WebKit rendering engine and its application development structure (framework). It is freely available under specific terms of service. The browser's name derives from the term used for the graphical user interface framework ("chrome"). In December 2011, Chrome surpassed Internet Explorer 8.0 as the most used browser worldwide.

On July 29, 2015, Microsoft releases Microsoft Edge as the successor to Internet Explorer. It is an improved, modernized, and distinct version of Internet Explorer with a separate pipeline of development. The browser is available for iOS, Android 4.4+ and Windows 10 (PC, Mobile, Xbox One, HoloLens). It has several unique features such as built-in ebooks reading, adding web notes with Windows Ink and Continue on PC, a tool in which web browsing and synchronization between PC and phone can be continued. In 2020, Microsoft rebuilt Microsoft Edge, now under Chromium, which has been more widely accepted by users.

Use of web browsers, according to StatCounter.

How browsers work

Communication between the web server and the browser is done using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) communications protocol, although most browsers support other protocols such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Gopher, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS, an encrypted version of HTTP based on Secure Socket Layer —SSL— or Secure Sockets Layer).

The main function of the browser is to download HTML documents and display them on the screen. Currently, they not only download this type of document, but also display their images, sounds and even streaming videos with the document in different formats and protocols. In addition, they allow information to be stored on disk or to create bookmarks (bookmarks) of the most visited pages.

Some of the most popular web browsers are included in what is called an internet suite or internet package. These Internet packages have several built-in programs for reading Usenet news and e-mail using the Network News Transport Protocol Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) and Post Office Protocol (POP).

Early web browsers only supported a very simple version of HTML. The rapid development of proprietary web browsers led to the development of non-standard dialects of HTML and interoperability problems on the web. The most modern ones (such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Edge) support the HTML and XHTML standards (starting with HTML 4.01, which should all display the same way).

Web standards are a set of recommendations given by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other international organizations about how to create and interpret web-based documents. Their goal is to create a web that works better for everyone, with sites accessible to more people and that work on any Internet access device.

Settings

Web browsers can usually be configured with a built-in menu. Depending on the browser, the menu may be called Settings, Options, or Preferences.

The menu has different types of settings. For example, users can change their home page and default search engine. They can also change the default web page colors and fonts. Various network connections and privacy settings are usually available as well.

Privacy

During the course of browsing, the browser stores cookies received from various websites. Some of them contain login credentials or site preferences. However, others are used to track user behavior over long periods of time, so browsers often provide a menu section to delete cookies. More detailed cookie management often requires a browser extension.

Browsers also often provide menu items for deleting browsing history, cache entries, and other potentially sensitive data.

An alternative approach is private browsing mode, in which the browser does not store the aforementioned elements. But this is a temporary option, it is only activated when using this special mode.

Security

Web browsers are popular targets for hackers, who exploit security holes to steal information, destroy files, and other malicious activities. Browser vendors regularly patch these security holes, so users are strongly advised to keep their browser software up to date. Other protection measures include antivirus software and avoiding known malicious websites.

Examples of web browsers

There is a detailed list of browsers, rendering engines and other associated topics in the associated category.

• KHTML
  • Konqueror (default based on KHTML)
  • Based on WebKit (fork KHTML)
    • Safari
    • Torch
    • Chromium
      • Google Chrome
      • Brave Browser
      • Ungoogled-chromium
      • SRWare Iron
      • New Microsoft Edge since 2020
      • Flock (from version 3)
      • Opera
      • Decent
    • Epiphany (from version 2.28)
    • Midori
    • Min
    • Qupzilla
    • Rekonq
    • Arora
    • Dolphin Browser
    • Sleipnir
    • Olive Browser
• Internet Explorer (Trident) and derivatives:
  • MSN Explorer (Discontinued)
  • Avant Browser
  • Maxthon
  • G-Browser
  • Slim Browser
  • AOL Explorer
• Mozilla (Gecko, SpiderMonkey) and derivatives:
  • Firefox Quantum
    • Waterfox
  • Mozilla Firefox
    • Pale Moon
  • Aurora
    • Flock (discontinued)
    • Iceweasel
    • Netscape Navigator (from version 6)
    • GNU IceCat
  • SeaMonkey
  • CometBird
  • Beonex
  • IBM Web Browser for OS/2
  • Galeon (released project)
  • Skipstone
  • K-Meleon for Windows
  • Path for Mac OS X
  • Pampa Browser

• W3C Amaya
  • Abrowse
• Netscape Navigator (up to version 4.xx)
• ICab
• OmniWeb
• Dillo
• IBrowse
• AWeb
• Voyager
• Spacious Escape
• HotJava
• 4Linux
• SpaceTime

Text-based web browsers

• Bobcat
• Links
• Lynx
• Netrik
• w3m

First browsers with a graphical interface

List of early GUI browsers that are no longer in development:

• Cello
• CyberDog
• MidasWW
• Mosaic
  • Spyglass Mosaic
• OHT-Erwise
• ViolaWWW