A web browser is an application software or program designed to enable the user to access, retrieve and view documents and other resources on the internet.
User can access a particular page or content by entering its address known as a URL (Uniform resource locator). This particular page may contain text, image, video or hyperlinks to navigate to related resources.
There are following types of web browsers
- Internet explorer
- Google Chrome
- Opera browser
- Mozilla Firefox etc.
Internet Explorer (IE)- IE formerly known as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Windows Internet Explorer. It was developed by Microsoft as a series of graphical web browsers and it was included as the part of the Microsoft Windows operating system, starting in 1995 as an add-on package Microsoft Plus for Windows 95 and later versions of IE were available as free downloads, or in service packs for Windows 95 and later versions of Windows.
- It is pre-installed on computer
- Faster with windows computers because it is integrated
- Universal
- Some applications are optimised for internet explorer
- No add-on support
- Slows down with newer versions such as IE7
- Maybe less secure than other browsers
- Becomes buggy easily
- Targeted by hackers
Google Chrome- Google Chrome Web browser is based on the open-source Chromium project. Google released Chrome in 2008. It is available for all platforms such as Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android, and iOS operating systems. Google Chrome is a secure web browser. Each open website runs as its own process, which helps prevent malicious code on one page from affecting others. Google Chrome also supports Web standards such as HTML5 and cascading style sheets (CSS).
Advantages of Google Chrome
- Chrome is an extremely fast web browser; it loads and displays pages very quickly.
- Google Chrome has a very basic, simple design, making it easy to use.
- The start-up page lists the most frequent pages we have visited and we can easily click and access them with ease.
- Chrome automatically translates pages into a language we understand for our convenience.
- We can search the internet through address bar at any time.
- If a site crashes on one of our tabs, other open tabs will not be affected.
- For private browsing, we can use Google Chrome Incognito mode feature
- Unlike Firefox and safari, we can alter the color and theme of the browser.
- Chrome is faster than Internet Explorer and Firefox.
- Chrome takes only seconds to install.
Disadvantages of Google Chrome
- Chrome uses up a lot of memory (RAM) when running it.
- If we accidentally close the browser, Chrome will close all the tabs opened without warning.
Opera browser-Opera is a Web browser that provides some advantages over other browsers. It is much smaller in size, it is fast and stable. It is available for all Operating Systems including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android. It offers integrated searches and instant messaging, support for JavaScript, cascading style sheets, and email.
Advantages of Opera Browser
- Fast web page downloading
- Quick link page
- Visual tabs
- Secure browsing
- Sharing center by Opera unite
- Website compression for fast load Saves time
Disadvantages of Opera Browser
- It is not compatible with all webpages
- No add-ons
Mozilla Firefox- Firefox is a Web browser that is smaller, faster, and more secure. Compared to Internet Explorer it is the most popular Web browser. Firefox provides a cleaner interface and faster download speeds.
Advantages of Mozilla Firefox
- Speed- Firefox is a faster web browser when it comes to downloading speed.
- Security- Firefox is more secure and protects our computer from spyware and viruses.
- Tabbed browsing and other advanced features- Provide Tabbed browsing and embedded memory feature which remember pages we had open and offer to get them back if computer turned off by mistake.
Disadvantages of Mozilla Firefox
- Compatibility issues- Some websites do not show properly.
- Memory- Firefox takes a lot of memory to run.
- Interrupted service- Downloads cannot be resumed if interrupted.