A Browser is a piece of software that allows the user to access Internet sites. Most current handsets are equipped with browsers capable of viewing common websites (those intended for a desktop browser). Browser – definition
Web browsers on budget cellphones may be capable of viewing only websites specially made for mobile devices. The most advanced devices currently have web browsers with full Flash support that allows them to play even embedded Flash video (such as the videos from YouTube).
Web browser
A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is application software for accessing the World Wide Web. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the web browser retrieves the necessary content from a web server and then displays the page on the user’s device.
A web browser is not the same thing as a search engine, though the two are often confused. A search engine is a website that provides links to other websites. However, to connect to a website’s server and display its web pages, a user must have a web browser installed.
Web browsers are used on a range of devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. In 2020, an estimated 4.9 billion people used a browser. The most used browser is Google Chrome, with a 63% global market share on all devices, followed by Safari with 19%. Other notable browsers include Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
Function
The purpose of a web browser is to fetch content from the Web and display it on a user‘s device.
This process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), such as https://www.afrobays.com/, 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 (HTTP). In the case of https:, the communication between the browser and the web server is encrypted for the purposes of security and privacy.
Once a web page has been retrieved, the browser’s rendering engine displays it on the user’s device. This includes image and video formats supported by the browser.
Web pages usually contain hyperlinks to other pages and resources. Each link contains a URL, and when it is clicked or tapped, the browser navigates to the new resource. Thus the process of bringing content to the user begins again.
Most browsers use an internal 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.
