An Internet browser (also web browser) is a software application used to access the World Wide Web (www), or, generally speaking, the Internet.
Currently (2012), three browsers dominate the market and have the largest share of users: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. The other well-known browsers are Safari and Opera, but these are only used by a minority of users, which is not growing significantly (Opera) or is growing very slowly (Safari).
The primary purpose of web browsers is to provide information to the user. The user does this by typing the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in the address bar, for example http://www.google.cz/. The prefix before the URL, the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), determines how the URL is interpreted. The most commonly used is http: and this identifies the resource to be displayed using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). Most browsers can handle other types of prefixes, such as https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), or ftp (File Transfer Protocol).
Whereas in the past, despite some of the same elements, browsers could be visually distinct, the trend nowadays is towards minimalism with an emphasis on maximising the space for the web page itself. The pioneer of this approach is usually considered to be Google Chrome, which surprised most users in its first beta version in September 2008. It was its minimalism and simplicity (and speed, but more on that below) that made Google Chrome catch the eye, and its design later inspired competing Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera. So nowadays the market leaders look very similar and are not too different in functionality either.
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (abbreviated MSIE, or IE plus the appropriate version number, for example IE9, IE10…) is a browser from Microsoft, which has been developing it since 1995. Since that year it has also been automatically part of Windows operating systems, starting with Windows 95. Internet Explorer has been for many years a significantly dominant browser, precisely because of the large spread of Windows operating systems.
At its peak, it had up to 95 percent of the market share of Internet browsers. However, it was this prevalence and the lack of competition in both the operating system and Internet browser fields that led to a long pause in development. In the meantime, strong competition in the form of Mozilla Firefox appeared on the market (2004) and Internet Explorer's share began to slowly decline.
At present (2012), Internet Explorer's share is around 40 percent and it can be said that it has been steadily declining for several years, although the decline has slowed down in recent months. Microsoft responded to the steadily declining share of Internet Explorer and the significantly stronger and more predatory competition with the release of Internet Explorer 7 (2006), and a new version of the browser comes out roughly every year. Despite this, IE's market share has been slowly declining.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is one of the newer web browsers. The first (beta) version was released in September 2008. The first stable version was released in December of the same year. Google is behind the development and maintenance of the browser. Google's management was initially reluctant to enter the browser market, but the first internal prototypes of Chrome convinced the sceptical management of its quality.
In a relatively short period of less than four years, Google Chrome has risen to become the second most used browser, surpassing Opera, Safari, Firefox and others. If we focus only on individual browsers, rather than entire „families“ of browsers, the current version of Google Chrome is the most used browser in the world. If all versions of Internet Explorer are added together, it still holds the top spot.
Since its inception, Google Chrome has been built on three core principles – „Speed“, „Security“ and „Simplicity“. That is, „Speed“, „Security“ and „Simplicity“. Recently, it added a third pillar to these three, „Signing in“. It was these three main pillars that Google Chrome surprised with in its first beta version in 2008. Simplicity was ensured by the minimum of buttons and the maximum area for the website itself, speed was ensured by the V8 JavaScript kernel, and security was ensured by the special division of each tab and plugin into its own process. The advantage of split processes is that if one page stops working, it should not affect the whole browser, but only the tab.
Another specific thing that Google Chrome introduced early on was very fast updates and new releases. Releasing a new version every few weeks. This philosophy was adopted from Google by Firefox and the release of new versions was rapidly accelerated by Internet Explorer. With frequent releases, Google Chrome has the advantage of automatic installation – so the user doesn't have to initiate, confirm or install anything, everything happens automatically, in the background and without the user's knowledge. This means that Chrome is always up-to-date, even for users who wouldn't normally care about updates or are not familiar with software updates.
Signing in is another feature that other browsers have gradually started to add, following the example of Google Chrome. You can simply sign in to Google Chrome with your Google account to sync your bookmarks, history, search, extensions, apps, settings and other browser features and functions. With your account synced in this way, you can then move between different computers running Google Chrome very easily by just signing in with your Google account. All your data is then automatically synced on the new computer.
Google Chrome comes in four versions called ?channels,? or channels. There are four channels in total:
Google Chrome's stable channel is for the vast majority of users. It is always the current stable public version and is recommended by Google for general use. The Google Chrome beta channel is updated more frequently than the stable channel and is used to test new browser features. Some pages may not display correctly in the beta channel. The developer channel is for developers, updates occur very frequently, and the percentage of sites that may not work correctly or may have other problems is higher than the beta channel. The Canary channel, on the other hand, is updated most frequently and is strictly for experimentation – features can be added and removed on a daily basis. The Canary and Developer channels are generally not recommended for normal use. The beta channel should work without major problems, but in general the standard stable version of Google Chrome is recommended for the vast majority of users.
Google has successively released Google Chrome for Mac, Linux and Andorid. The Windows version was released first.
One of the progressive things Google introduced in Google Chrome was its own web app store. In English, this store is called the Chrome Web Store, and in Czech it is called the Chrome Internet Store. The vast majority of apps in this store are free, but often they are just shortcuts for standard websites. In addition to apps, the Chrome Web Store also contains a rich portfolio of extensions that can enhance and extend the functionality of the browser. There are also so-called themes, which allow the user to change the appearance of the browser.
The Chrome Web Store is divided into the following categories:
- Games
- Tools
- Business Tools
- Productivity Tools
- Social Networks and Communication
- Education
- Entertainment
- News and Weather
- Lifestyle
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox (abbreviated as Firefox + version number, e.g. Firefox 9, Firefox 10, Firefox 11…) is a web browser from Mozilla Corporation and the Mozilla Foundation. Like other browsers, it is free and unlike the others, it is open source software. The first version of Mozilla Firefox was released in 2004 and is still under active development today, being one of the three most used browsers.
The original name of Firefox was Phoenix, after which it had to be renamed Mozilla Firebird, and eventually stuck with the name Mozilla Firefox.
The release of new versions of Mozilla Firefox used to work on a similar basis to Internet Explorer, i.e. new versions every so often. Recently, however, Firefox has also switched to releasing smaller updates more frequently, along the lines of Google Chrome.
Mozilla Firefox was a very popular browser on the rise in its time (2004 – 2008). There was significantly less competition, there was no predatory Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer had been stuck on IE version 6 for several years. After a few years, Firefox became a popular alternative that caught on, unlike Opera.
A big advantage of Firefox at the time were the extensions (extensions), which massively modified, improved and extended the functionality of the browser. A simple browser, which did not differ much from Internet Explorer in its user basics, could thus become a robust working tool with a wide range of features after installing a few extensions. It was through the use of various extensions and add-ons that Firefox was able to approach or even surpass the feature-laden Opera. At its core, it was still a simple browser.
Again following the example of Google Chrome, Firefox has over time adopted the philosophy of a simplified and minimized user interface.
