The History Of Web Browsers Information Technology Essay

What started with just one web browser known as Mosaic, which was established in 1993, nowadays there are a wide selection of different types of web browsers available. Each different web browser fulfills different requirements but each have the same purpose, to connect us to the World Wide Web.

In this report, we will be discussing on the brief history of web browsers, our objectives for undertaking this topic, the methods we performed while doing this report and an analysis on the research we have carried out throughout the construction of this report.

HISTORY OF WEB BROWSERS

As we all know, web browsers have played an important role in technology. It has taken human beings a long time to perfect it. Therefore, like anything else, it has a long history starting from a mere idea which grew into an action.

The first graphical web browser was developed by Tim Berners-Lee, where the WorldWideWeb browser, later renamed Netscape to avoid perplexity with the www system was released in 1991.

After that, Mosaic was released. Because of the release of Mosaic, the Internet became a big hit amongst the people lucky enough to afford it. The web browsers we use nowadays such as Firefox and Internet Explorer still use graphical user interphase (GUI) features.

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In 1994, Marc Andreessen, the head software engineer of Mosaic endeavored on his own, producing Netscape and releasing the first commercial Netscape named, the Netscape Navigator. With the release of Netscape Navigator, Microsoft released its own browser, called Internet Explorer.

In 1996, Telenor, Norwegian’s prime telecommunications company, granted Opera to the public. Due to Netscape’s losing grip over Internet Explorer in 1998, the team decided to release the source code of Communicator, hoping that it would become a successful open source project. With the start of Netscape’s open source project, the open source Mozilla project is formed. This Mozilla project is started to cultivate the next generation of Communicator.

Later, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer became even more popular for its advantage of being packaged with the Windows operating system making them the conquering browser.

In the year 2003, Apple joins the bandwagon with the release of Safari. This Safari commences a solid layout engine called WebKit.

In the consecutive year; 2004, The Firefox 1.0 was released and caused a decrease market share of Internet Explorer.

By 2006, the Internet Explorer 7 was released, five years after Internet Explorer 6 was released. The 7th version of the Internet Explorer adopts features like tabbed browsing and anti phishing protection.

And in the year 2008, Google launched its own web browser called the Google Chrome, instantly diving itself into the existing market share. Google Chrome is more lightweight, fast and to the utter surprise of the other web browser companies, more stable than the others.

OBJECTIVES

To widen our knowledge on the World Wide Web and the different type of Web Browsers available

The World Wide Web is a classification of Internet servers that act as a foundation for formatted documents.

To determine the most important quality in choosing a certain Web Browser. Speed, security or popularity

Speed, security and popularity play a major role in the quality of certain web browsers. Based on our research, more than half of our respondents depend on speed as the main characteristic.

To study the different versions of Web Browsers that have been upgraded throughout the years

– From Internet Explorer, many new web browsers have been put on the

market such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari.

Identifying the best possible type of Web Browsers that are most suitable for our different needs.

– Over the years, many web browsers have been developed. Each web

browsers have their own specific specialty. Among the web browsers are

Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox.

GOOGLE CHROME

Google Chrome was launched by Google in the year 2008 for Microsoft Windows. It has become one of the most commonly used web browsers among internet users. Now, Google Chrome is also available for Mac OS X users.

According to http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/more/index.html, Google Chrome uploads web pages quickly due to the WebKitopen source rendering engine. Besides that, it is able to run complicated web applications faster than most web browsers. Like many other web browsers, it provides recommendations for searches in the Omnibox.

Google Chrome is one of the few web browsers that have extensions. This enables the user to browse the Internet with a breeze. Furthermore, it enables its users to place their favorite web browsers in a single page for easy access.

Google Chrome also provides safety measures to prevent hackers from invading in the privacy of the user. It practices safe Browsing, sandboxing, and auto-updates.

MOZILLA FIREFOXMozilla Firefox.png

Mozilla Firefox is originally a project that was widely used as the base for other projects that are still in the works.

WALL-E_Firefox.jpg

Most of this techno savvy generation uses web browsers. Firefox allows you to have many different add-ons. You can personalize and customize it the way you want it to be. It also has different Personal themes for you to choose for your own browser.

Security

screenshot180-1.png

One of Firefox’s top priority is to keep the users safe. Firefox is equipped with highly developed anti-phishing and anti-malware technologies. In addition to that, it also ensures the users privacy as Firefox also has features like private browsing and ‘forget this site’.

Performance

Firefox has been trying to improve its speed, for instance, making the tabs open up faster by further improving its web browser.

firefox-performance-test.gif

Features

Firefox is equipped with the Awesome Bar for expediency, Instant Site ID for safety purposes Firefox-Diamond-Edition_2.png

and

JavaScript

engine

for

performance.

INTERNET EXPLORER

Internet Explorer Beta 1 gives us an early glimpse of the potential future of Internet Explorer

Internet explorer was the first browser to use graphical user interface (GUI). Over the years, many versions of Internet explorer had came up such as Internet explorer version 1,2,3,4,5 and 6. As the version been upgraded, more features have been introduced.

Internet Explorer which also known as Windows XP, and can be installed on all previous operating systems except for Windows 95. It is also well known for its fun graphics and tools like the Images Toolbar, Auto Image Resize, Print Preview, and Media Bar which has replaced the Radio Toolbar.

World – The Blue E debuted with Internet Explorer 3

Microsoft also takes into consideration its foreign users. Although it is mainly an English based web browser, it has incorporated Ruby Text and also bidirectional text support.

Internet Explorer also has tabbed browsing, support for protocols such as RSS (Really Simple Syndication), new protection against phishing, improvements like ‘shrink to fit’ when printing, and other changes. Now the Internet explorer 7 has been the browser to beat.

However, due to the release of several different web browsers over the years. This once popular web browser is slowly fading away.

SAFARIapple-mac-safari-browser.jpg

Safari is deemed to be one of the fastest browsers in the world and it is said to be one of the earliest browser to sustain HTML5 video and audio tags. Like Google Chrome, Safari also uses WebKit that clarifies web growth and quickens alterations.

Safari also has features that allow its users to style images and photos with masks, gradients and reflections.

As for safety measures, Safari has a unique way of browsing privately. It disposes information such as Google searches, cookies, downloaded items and personal information when filling up online forms. Besides that, it automatically blocks pop-ups.

C:UsersUserDownloadswhatis-private-20090528.jpg

METHODS USED

During the production of this assignment, we have used many methods. We have come up with a survey consisting of 15 questions regarding our topic, Web Browsers. We have given out this survey to random people to obtain their opinions and to back up our research. Our targeted respondents are college students between the ages 17 to 23. We have successfully distributed 35 surveys. Besides that, worksheets and graphs have been plotted to further express our information.

Furthermore, we have also searched the web to find information on the different types of web browsers and their qualities. We have obtained much valuable information through the World Wide Web.

DESCRIPTION OF EXCEL

During our assignment, we have created a survey consisting of 15 questions which we distributed to 35 respondents. Out of the 15 questions, we have taken three of the main questions to produce three worksheets and two graphs.

In sheet 1, we have tabulated the percentage of respondents who are aware of the term web browsers. In chart 1, we have created a pie chart consisting of two colors. The blue section of the pie chart represents the percentage of respondents who are aware of the term web browsers while the red section of the pie chart represents the percentage of respondents who are not aware of the term web browsers.

In sheet 2, we have tabulated the number of female and male according to the web browsers they are most likely to be used. In chart 2, we have created clustered cone column. The four colors blue, red, green and purple represent Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari respectively.

In sheet 3, we have tabulated the number of female and male according to the main usage of web browsers. We have also calculated the percentage of people who chose entertainment, socializing and to search for information against the total amount of respondents.

ANALYSIS

During this assignment, we have distributed our survey to 35 respondents ranging from the ages 17 to 23. All of which consists of students at Help University College. Out of the 35 respondents, there are 22 females and 13 males. Based on our survey of 15 questions, we have created three different worksheets and two graphs according to the two out of the three worksheets. The research that we have carried out has further confirmed our assumptions.

In sheet 1, we have calculated the number of respondents who have answered the question “Are you familiar with the term Web Browser?”. According to chart 1, 94.29% of the respondents, consisting of 21 females and 12 males are familiar with the term web browsers. Another 5.7% of the respondents, consisting of a female and a male are not familiar with the term web browser. This proves that with the new generation, it is very rare to find someone who is not aware of web browsers.

In sheet 2, we have tabulated the number of respondents who have answered the question “Which web browser are you most likely to use?”. We have based our answers by a ranking scale of 1 to 4, 4 being strongly agree, 3 being agree, 2 being moderate and 1 being disagree. According to chart 2, it is obvious that among the four web browsers, most of our respondents strongly agree that Mozilla Firefox is the most likely web browser to be used. Furthermore, it is apparent that Safari appears to be the one web browsers our respondents to not agree as the web browser they are most likely to use. In a nutshell, Mozilla Firefox is the most popular web browser due to its features and its rapid spread throughout the years.

In sheet 3, we have tabulated the number of respondents who have answered the question “What do you use web browsers for?”. We have calculated that the percentage of respondents who use web browsers for entertainment purposes is 28.57%, including 5 males and 5 females. Besides that, 40% of our respondents use web browsers for social reasons consisting of 10 females and 4 males. Lastly, 8 females and 4 males actually use the web browsers mainly to search for information which is only 34.29% of our respondents. In conclusion, the new generation has started to use the internet for social and also entertainment purposes. Searching for information has become a thing of the past.

EXCEL SPREADSHEET 1

Number of People Familiar with the Web Browser Term

Number of Respondents =

35

Familiarity

Number of Boys

Number of Girls

Total

Percentage

YES

12

21

33

94.29

NO

1

1

2

5.7

Number of People Familiar with the Web Browser Term

Number of Respondents =

35

Familiarity

Number of Boys

Number of Girls

Total

Percentage

YES

12

21

=C7+D7

=AVERAGE(E7/D4)*100

NO

1

1

=C8+D8

=AVERAGE(E8/D4)*100

EXCEL CHART 1

Web Browsers That Are More Likely To Be Used

Type of Web Browser

Strongly Agree

Agree

Moderate

Disagree

Google Chrome

11

9

9

6

Internet Explorer

4

15

9

7

Mozilla Firefox

14

8

11

2

Safari

6

3

6

20

EXCEL SPREADSHEET 2

EXCEL CHART 2

EXCEL SPREADSHEET 3

The Usage of Web Browsers

Number of Respondents =

35

Uses

Information

Socializing

Entertainment

Female

8

10

5

Male

4

4

5

Total

12

14

10

Percentage

34.29

40

28.57

The Usage of Web Browsers

Number of Respondents =

35

Uses

Information

Socializing

Entertainment

Female

8

10

5

Male

4

4

5

Total

=C7+C8

=D7+D8

=E7+E8

Percentage

=AVERAGE(C9/D4)*100

=AVERAGE(D9/D4)*100

=AVERAGE(E9/D4)*100

CONCLUSION

Over the years, with the advancing of technology many things have been upgraded to simplify our lives. The Internet, World Wide Web as well as Web Browsers are of no exception. As the Internet and World Wide Web expanded so did Web Browsers. Web Browsers have had no choice but to be upgraded to catch up with the needs of its users.

Web Browsers play a very important role in to the current generation. There is not a computer that exists that does not contain a certain web browser. May it be Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari or Mozilla Firefox. There is no doubt that new and more advanced web browsers will be created in the near future. With better and faster features to make our web browsing an easy and enjoyable experience.