What Is a Web Browser and Why Do We Need One?

The Internet is inarguably one of the most important aspects of modern civilization. There is hardly a place or two where the internet is not accessible. It has made human lives way easier in every single aspect.

You can get information within a few clicks of anything in this whole world or even out of this world. we would say, the internet has only made human lives better and more advanced in every single manner, the same way the Web Browser has made accessing the internet way smoother and faster than it used to be.

So, in this article, you will be reading What is a Web Browser? Why do we need it? or How has the Web Browser changed the Internet? and so on. 

What are the Web and Internet?

• Most people conclude that the Web is similar to the Internet however, this is not the case. The web is just a means through which information or data is shared via the Internet. 
• Web i.e. also known as the World Wide Web or www is a segment of the Internet made up of pages that are accessible through a web browser.
• Web pages are formatted in Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML, which allows users to click on different web pages via a Link such as an HTTPS link. 
• The Internet is the network of all the networks and the information travels here in different protocols whereas the Web(www) needs a Web Browser to access information via the Internet.

What is a Web Browser?

• In simple words, it is an application software which allows users to access the web and Internet in a much optimized and easy manner.
• It is the interface between the user and the information or data available on the web. Basically, it is a software or an application used to access the Web. 
• Once the user enters the URL of the desired website or enters a keyword in the address bar, the browser starts the entire process of gathering information on the Web.
• A Web Browser runs as a client-server model and is used by the client, all the information is followed by an HTTP protocol in a browser. 
• After you search for a file it finds the HTML and converts it into human-readable form i.e. finally displayed on your screen.

Why do we need a Web Browser?

Well, the answer to this is that we need a browser for pretty much everything, while on the web. A web browser makes our experience way too smoother and faster as compared to other alternatives.

• Small things like saving a website, going back and forth within seconds or access to an almost unlimited amount of content on the web, make web browsers essential. 
• A Web browser is required to parse and read the files sent to us by the Web server and then is presented to us as we see them.
• We wouldn’t be able to interact with the files from the web servers or www without a Web browser, which can make our lives way worse.
• There is an unlimited amount of content available on the web which is not at all worth missing out, be it for entertainment or educational purposes, the web has it all.

Essential Elements of a Web Browser

There are seven essential elements of a Web browser that makes it perfectly functional for the user. 

1. User Interface: This is the portion which is visible to the users such as forward/backward, refresh buttons, the address bar and all the other things that can be seen on a screen when the browser is opened.
2. Browser Engine: The rendering engine and the browser’s UI are connected by a bridge i.e. browser engine. It produces the output as per the input, by operating the rendering engine.
3. Rendering Engine: This engine is responsible for producing the requested content by a user to the browser and then displaying it on the screen. It renders the HTML into a readable form on the screen. WebKit is one of the open-source rendering engines used by some of the mainstream browsers such as Google Chrome, Opera and Safari. 
4. JavaScript Interpreter: All websites and webpages are based on JavaScript. These pages are all written in JavaScript. As a result, the interpreter converts the pages, which are then sent to the rendering engine to display the final render.
5. Networking: Security and communications on the internet are controlled by the networking part. It allows to lower or control the network traffic and is also used for HTTP requests and to cache the documents that are retrieved.
6. UI Backend: It is used to create simple widgets like windows and boxes. The standard interface exposed by this backend is cross-platform. 
7. Data Storage: This layer is based on continuity in the storage area. Cookies and other types of data may need to be saved locally by the browser regularly. Additionally, browsers support storage mechanisms such as localStorage, IndexedDB, WebSQL, and FileSystem.

What if the web browser does not exist?

It will be absolute chaos if there are no web browsers, the access to billions of things will be cut down instantly. The reach of humans and the potential of earning money, accessing information and locating millions of places and things will be impossible or very difficult.

Overall, our lives would be way slower and uneasy if there is no means of accessing the web. 

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