9/28/2016 Whatisbrowser?

Browser

Alternativelyreferredtoasaweb
browser,abrowserisasoftware
programcreatedasasimplifiedmeans
topresentandexplorecontentonthe
WorldWideWeb.Thesepiecesof
content,includingpictures,videos,and
webpages,areconnectedusing
hyperlinksandclassifiedwithUniform
RecourseIdentifiers(URLs).

Therehavebeenmanydifferentweb
browsersthathavecomeandgoneoverthe
yearsthefirst,namedWorldWideWeb(later
changedtoNexus)wasinventedbyTim
BernersLeein1990.However,thefirst
graphicalbrowserandwidelyusedbrowserthathelpbringpopularitytotheInternetwasNCSA
Mosaic.

ListofcurrentInternetbrowsers
GoogleChrome

MicrosoftEdge

MicrosoftInternetExplorer

MozillaFirefox

Opera

AppleSafari

Gettingaroundinabrowser
EachbrowserhasanavigationtoolbarthathelpsyoufindyourwayaroundtheInternet.As
seenintheimagesbelow,thenavigationtoolbarhasundergonesignificantchangesto
streamlineitsappearanceandfunctionality.However,islikelynevergoingtolosethe
navigationarrowsandaddressbar.

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Overviewofbrowserbarbuttons,menus,and
functions
Aswementionedintheprevioussection,overtime,manyInternetbrowserbuttonsandoptions
haveeitherbeenmovedordoneawaywithcompletely.Consequently,someoftheoptions
mentionedbelowmaynotbeimmediatelyvisibleonyourbrowser.

Tip: Incertainbrowsers,pressingtheAltkeyonyourkeyboardshowshiddenoptions.

Settings(Menu)

Nearlyallmodernbrowserstodayhavemovedadvancedoptionsandfeaturesintheupperright
orlefthandcornerofthebrowserwindow.Eachbrowser'smenubuttonisdifferent:

Forexample,InternetExploreruses ,Chromeuses ,Firefoxuses ,andOpera

uses .

Back

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Thebackbuttonvisitsthepreviouspagethatreferredyoutothepageyouarecurrently
viewing.Typicallythisbuttonresemblesanarrowpointingtotheleft.

WhydoesmyInternetbackbuttonsometimesnotwork?

CreatinganHTMLbackbutton.

Forward

Theforwardbuttonmovesyouforwardapage.Itonlyworksifyouhavepreviouslyusedthe
backbutton.Ifyouhavenotgoneback,andyourbrowsershowsaforwardbutton,itwillbe
grayedout.

Stop

Thestopbuttonnolongerexistsinthemajorityofmodernwebbrowsers.However,it's
function(tostopawebpagefromloading)maystillbeexecutedbypressingtheEsckey.

Refresh(Reload)

AsyoubrowsetheInternetthebrowsercache'sdataitdownloads,meaningtheystoresomeor
allpartsofeachpageyouvisitonyourcomputer.Thisfeatureisusefulasitallowsuserstonot
havetodownloadthefullpageeachtimetheyvisitthesamesite.Onsomesites,youmaywant
torefreshthepagetogetthelatestversione.g.onanewssite.TheRefreshbuttoncanalsobe
usedtoreloadapagethathasfailedtoloadbecauseofanerror.

Tip: PresstheF5keyorCtrl+Rtorefreshthepagefromthekeyboard.

Home

TheHomebuttonisusedtoreturnuserstotheirdefaultwebpagethesamepagethatloads
whenthebrowserisfirstopened.

Howtochangemybrowser'shomepage.

HowtomakeComputerHopeyourhomepage.

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Search

Inthepast,theSearchbuttonwasusedtoopenauser'sdefaultsearchpageorexecuteasearch
onthetextfoundintheaddressorURLtextfield.Today'sbrowsershavewhatiscalledan
Omnibox,whichisasearchfunctionbuiltintotheaddressbar.

Fullscreen

Thisfunctionisusedtomakethebrowserwindowafullscreentemporarilyremovingthe
toolbar,buttons,andaddressbar.Often,thisviewmodemaybetoggledonandoffbypressing
theF11keyonyourkeyboard.

History

Thisfeatureallowsuserstoviewthewhichpagesthathavebeenvisitedsincethebrowser
historywaslastclearedorcreated.AllyoursavedpagesarestoredinyourInternetcache.

HowdoIclearmyInternetbrowserhistory?

Tip: TheshortcutkeyforhistoryformostbrowsersisCtrl+H.

Favorites(Bookmarks)

Thisfolderstoreswebsitesorpageschosenbytheuser.Theterm"Favorites"isusedwith
MicrosoftInternetExplorerinotherbrowsersthismaybeknownasbookmarksorahotlist.

HowdoIcreateanInternetfavoritesorbookmark?

Print

Thisfeature,althoughnolongerabuttonandmaybeaccessedthroughthemainsettingsmenu
orpressingCtrl+Ponthekeyboard.

Font(Size)

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Thisbuttonnolongerexistsbutwasusedtoincreaseordecreasethesizeofafontanoption
nowcoveredbythezoomfeature.

Zoom

Onmodernbrowsers,holdingdowntheCtrlkeyandpressingeitherthe+orkeyzoomsinor
out,increasinganddecreasingthesizeoffontandimages.Toresetthezoomfunctiontoits
defaultsize,pressCtrl+0(zero)atthesametime.

Mail

Usedtoopenauser'spreferredemailprogram.Today,thisoptionisnolongerfoundin
browsers.

Edit

UsedtoopenandeditthewebpageyouarecurrentlyviewinginanHTMLeditor.Today,no
longerfoundinbrowsers.

Browserrelatedhelppages
HowdoIclearmyInternetbrowserhistory?

Howtodetermineyourbrowser,browserversion,andinstalled
browserplugins.

CanIhavemorethanoneInternetbrowserinstalled?

HistoryoftheInternet.

FulllistofInternetbrowsershelpandsupport.

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