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Answer:-Browser components Now let us learn the architecture of a Web browser with the help of reference architecture. Thisreference architecture is the basic architecture for Web browsers and helps you to easilyunderstand the various components that exist in the Web browser. Figure 1.1: Main Components of Browser [1] As shown in the figure 1.1 the Web browser consists of seven main components, each having aspecific task to perform and they are: User interface: It consists of an address bar where you can enter the URL, bookmark menu tosave the links of your favourite Web pages, back/forward button to navigate to the previous Webpage/next Web page, and so on. Browser engine: It is the interface through which you can ask questions to the browser andmanipulate the rendering engine. It also sets the layout of a Web page formatted with HTMLtags within a browser. Rendering engine: It is displays the content you had requested, after obtaining it from therespective Web server. Networking: It is used for calling the network for example, raising an HTTP request for a URLconnection through the server. Display backend: It provides drawing tools, user interface widgets, and fonts that help todisplay text and graphics. Javascript interpreter: It is used to parse and execute the codes of written using the Java script(refer Unit 6).
Data storage: This enables the browser to save all the data on the hard disk and acts as thedatabase of the browser. Features of browser Now that we have learnt about the components of a browser, let us now study some of the mostimportant features of a browser. The figure 1.2 shows the screen shot of the Microsofts Internet Explorer Web browser. The arrows point to the features that are available on the Web browseralong with the name of the corresponding feature mentioned at the other end of the arrow.
Figure 1.2: Web Browser and its Features From the figure 1.2 you can see some of the features that are present as icons or buttons on aWeb browser. If you do not find it as a button you can find the same in one of the menusprovided in the menu bar. Let us now briefly discuss the features that are mentioned in the figure1.2: Address field: This is the area on the browser window where you enter the Web page addressor URL. At the right end of this area, there is a small arrow pointing towards the menu bar, whenyou click this arrow you will view a list of some of the Websites that you have visited recently.When you click on these URLs you will view the respective Website or else you can directlyenter the address in the address field. After you enter the address you can either press "Enter" orclick on the "Go" button (which is present next to the downward facing arrow button in somebrowsers). Back and forward buttons: The back button is used to go back to the previous page that youhave opened in a particular browser window. The forward button allows you to view pages thatyou have previously viewed in that browser window. In some browsers, there is a small arrow
pointing towards the menu bar arrow right next to these buttons, when you click this arrow youwill see the list of Websites that you have visited after opening the browser window. Home button: When you click this button you will be able to view the page that you have set ashome page. A home page is a default page that opens when you open the browser window. Menu bar: A menu bar is a part of each browser window, it contains menus like File, Edit,View, Favourites or Bookmarks, Tools and Help. Refresh or reload: When you click the refresh or reload button, the page is updated. Forexample, if you think that the contents of a browser window may have changed since the lasttime you viewed it, you can click this button to update the page. Security indicators:
At the left corner of the window, a lock icon appears when you use abrowser and this is called padlock. If the padlock is in a lock position then you can say that yourserver connection is secure, i.e. the data being sent and received by the server is encrypted. Thisindicates that nobody else can access this data. There is another way to find out whether yourbrowser is secure or not and that is done by looking at the URL. If the URL of your Websitebegins with "https://" for example, you enter an address "www.gofind.com" in the address fieldand press enter or click "Go" then automatically the address changes to"https://www.gofind.com" indicating that your browser connection is secure. Status bar: This is a bar at the bottom of the browser window which indicates the URL of theWeb page currently being loaded into the browser window. It also displays the URL of the link on which the cursor of your mouse is placed. While loading, the Web page shows a progressindicator which shows how much percentage of a file has been downloaded. Stop button: This button is used to stop the browser from loading the Web page on to thebrowsing window.