Available Web Browsers - Essay Example

3 April Web Browsers Introduction Internet has become a major part of our lives. We are now socially interconnected with each other in a virtual space. We are addicted to internet and refer it for every query and our daily interaction with the web has increased dramatically over time. We find its use in every field of life. We wake up in the morning and read news, check our emails, interact with our social contacts, receive updates, study and ask every question that comes to our mind from the internet. The basic window to the internet is our web browser. In simple it is a software application that enables us to access information on the web. Over time their usability has increased. Though, their main function is to act as browsers for the web, they are also used in different networking solutions. 2. History The first web browser was introduced in 1993 by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina. It was named Mosaic and made to run on UNIX platform (Rosen et al. 290). Mosaic Communications Corporation was founded and later named Netscape Communications Corporation and hence, the browser was renamed Netscape. Functionality was added over time and it was fairly simple. Various bundles were added along with the browser to improve its functionality and enable it to connect with an email client and for composing a webpage. In 1995, Microsoft countered Netscape with the introduction of Internet Explorer for its Windows platform. The browser was based on the original Mosaic browser. The two companies fought for dominance for almost three years and a race started between the two. This war for dominance is known as the Browser War (Ensor 164). Over this time new features were introduced and the development of feature rich modern browsers started. Microsoft gained dominance by including Internet Explorer free in its Windows operating system and furthermore, developed a version for the UNIX foundation also available free of cost. Netscape could not sustain damages and was sold to Mozilla Foundation; the maker of Firefox. Over time, other browsers joined in the list. Most notable of them are Apple’s Safari, which was introduced in 2003 and the more recently Google’s Chrome introduced in 2008. 3. Available Web Browsers The major web browsers in use today include Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari. The basic functionality of all these browsers is to enable user navigation in a webpage. Different features have been added over time and they are all different from each other in operation, features and interface. The most common features besides supporting HTML files include; built in search clients, use of tabs instead of a separate browser window, pop-up blockers and bookmarks. These features can be expanded by using plug-ins to support different elements and to personalize the browser as per user requirement. The most common browsers in use today are discussed in detail and compared to each other in functionality. 3.1 Internet Explorer Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is the default browser in Windows operating system. It is included in the operating system. Windows being the most widely used operating system enables the browser with the highest number of users. This makes Internet Explorer the most popular browser of all times (Lunden 1). Its versions are also developed for the Windows Mobile platform. The browser is currently only available on Windows operating system and its Mac version has been discontinued. 3.2 Google Chrome Google’s Chrome was introduced in 2008 for Windows platform only. The browser quickly started gaining popularity. It is also available for Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. The browser has a very simple and user friendly interface. Google made support for documents to be opened within the browser. It was a step away from the traditional user interface by Internet Explorer. The browser is also ported on Google’s Android mobile platform. The browser currently comes in at second place for its share of user base (Mandalia 1). 3.3 Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox comes in third position for its size of user base. The browser runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. It has a variety of plug-ins available for quick access and personalization as per user requirement. The browser is being improved continuously and newer versions are released in quick successions. It is feature intensive of all the available browsers and offers graphic intense user experience. The user interface has been improved over time to make it simple and easy to use. It took simple design cues from Google Chrome and added built in support for various playable formats. The browser is generally liked by more advanced users who incorporate plug-ins and like to customize the user interface. 3.4 Safari Safari is Apple’s web browser included in Mac OS X and its iOS mobile operating system. The browser is also available for Windows platform. Its user base has grown from its iOS based devices including the iPhone and the iPad. Furthermore, its share has increased by accelerated Mac sales. Currently, as per user base the browser stands in at fourth position and most of its share comes from its default devices. In simple, it is used very less outside its own platform. The latest version of the browser has added neat features, specially the Reader feature. It enables user to read main material or article on the webpage and filters every other content. 4. Comparison Each browser has its own unique features and operation. They are based on different architect, which makes each good for some tasks and weak for some. Behind the architecture, the main driving force is the Browser Engine. The User Interface (UI) is just a layer between the user and its Browser Engine. This engine loads the URL or address entered with the help of Rendering Engine, which displays the page after organizing the elements to fit the screen. The browsers, therefore, have different performance and capabilities. Some of the major features are compared and discussed in detail; 4.1 Browser Engine Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari are based on WebKit (Raasch 8). It is an open source project and was originally made by Apple for Safari. The engine also powers mobile browsers in iOS and Android mobile operating systems. Microsoft, on the other hand uses Trident as its browser and rendering engine for Internet Explorer and Gecko is used in Mozilla’s Firefox. Performance for these engines varies for different formats. 4.2 Features The four main browsers in use today are all equipped with common browser features like tabbed browsing, bookmarks, spell check, search engine, password management and a private or incognito mode for private browsing. However, some of the features not common in these four are as follows; 4.2.1 Pop-ups Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari have the feature to block pop-ups. The default setting for all of these is to block or filter any harmful pop-up; however, Chrome has a default setting to allow pop-ups. This setting can cause a serious threat to privacy. 4.2.2 Ads Filter The filter blocks and removes advertisement on a webpage. These may include animated or simple picture advertisements. Internet Explorer along with Firefox has the ability to block advertisements, whereas Chrome and Safari lack the feature. 4.2.3 Modal Windows These are secondary windows to display messages, warnings or important notifications on a webpage. They interrupt the work flow and the user has to deal with the messages first. Only Firefox displays messages in Modal Windows, whereas the other three handle notifications in a different way. Messages from the websites are blocked as Modal Windows may contain macros that can initiate an unknown script. 4.2.4 Gestures They are used to combine movement gestures with clicks to perform certain commands. The browser recognizes the gestures and hence executes the command without the need for an exact user input. This improves interaction and user experience while browsing. Only Safari supports this feature and the gestures are interlinked with multi gestures. 4.2.5 Speech Input Only Safari has text to voice feature. The feature reads text to user and is useful for older people. However, speech recognition is available in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Chrome lacks any sort of voice input. 5. Compatibility Issues Browsers are evolving to support various formats available on the internet. Flash has been dominating this field and browsers were tuned to display and render flash content. Most browsers did not include built in flash players, with the exception of Firefox. Browsers receive continuous updates and new versions further complicate things with compatibility issues. The internet is in transitional phase of moving on to a newer HTML5 standard, leaving Adobe’s Flash (Harrel 97). The new standard means that web browsers are to be optimized and fine tuned to display HTML5 interactive multimedia. Besides compatibility issues with this standard there are minor bugs and errors in every browser. Security has been a key issue and the browsers have different filters. Pop-ups and Ad blockers have different databases and hence different filters. Some of the pop-ups are blocked by one, but they are safe in another. Furthermore, the script files like JavaScript and XML are handled differently in each browser. In simple, because of different Browser Engines, each browser acts in a different manner to display elements within a webpage. To further complex the issue the mobile browsers in tablets and cell phones have vast compatibility issue. They have comparatively lighter engines and have less support for different elements on the web. 6. Preferences People have the option to choose the browser as per their requirement and usability. Though, the major trend has been to use the default browser of the operating system being used. Internet Explorer and Safari being the default browsers in Windows and Mac operating systems respectively, hold their major user base portion from the platforms. The introduction of Google’s Chrome changed the trend. It is liked for its light and quick performance. The interface is very simple and it incorporates Google’s services nicely integrated into the browser. Its share has been increasing rapidly over the years and is only a margin away from taking the first place in market share. Office documents can be opened in the browser with browser based applications. For improved functionality third party plug-ins are used. These are mostly available on Firefox and that is why some users prefer Firefox for its customizable interface. 7. Conclusion Web browsers have been evolving over time and new standards in internet keeps replacing older versions and formats. With the addition of various browsers over time, we have seen accelerated growth in features and performance. Mobile computing, in particular tablets are seen as potential replacement to computers. That is why they are called as Post-PC devices. They are developing with a rapid pace. The adoption of HTML5 is mainly due to the inability of mobile devices to play flash content. Furthermore, this standard supports browser based applications. These are much more interactive and power efficient. The main browsers have quickly adopted towards this shift. With these trends, the future browsers have to deal with much more complex issues. Older content is not updated and new standards mean more formats for the browser to cover or be compatible with. Whereas, the mobile versions need to be power efficient, there is high demand that future mobile browser versions be capable of handling all elements of a webpage. Works Cited Rosen, Kenneth, et al. The Complete Reference: UNIXX. 2nd ed. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2007. Print. Ensor, Jim. Future Net: The Essential Guide to Internet and Technology Megatrends. Victoria: Trafford Publishing, 2003. Print. Lunden, Ingrid. “Chrome Briefly Becomes World’s Most Popular Browser, Thanks to Emerging Market Usage.” Techcrunch. AOL Tech, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. Mandalia, Ravi. “Chrome Nudges Firefox to Grab Second Position in Browser Race.” Itproportal. NET Communities, 2 Dec. 2011. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. Raasch, Jon. Shamhing WebKit. West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. Print. Harrel, William. HTML, CSS & JavaScript: Mobile Development for Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. Print. Read More