:: WEB BROWSER ::

People may be confuse between the term web brower and search engine...Sometimes they may think wrongly without they realize...

As for our information, web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users to easily navigate their browsers to related resources.

Although browsers are primarily intended to access the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access information provided by web servers in private networks or files in file systems. The major web browsers are Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera. Below are two examples of web browser:

Mozilla Firefox

Internet Explorer

Available web browsers range in features from minimal, text-based user interfaces with bare-bones support for HTML to rich user interfaces supporting a wide variety of file formats and protocols. Browsers which include additional components to support e-mail, Usenet news, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC), are sometimes referred to as "Internet suites" rather than merely "web browsers".

All major web browsers allow the user to open multiple information resources at the same time, either in different browser windows or in different tabs of the same window. Major browsers also include pop-up blockers to prevent unwanted windows from "popping up" without the user's consent.

Most web browsers can display a list of web pages that the user has bookmarked so that the user can quickly return to them. Bookmarks are also called "Favorites" in Internet Explorer. In addition, all major web browsers have some form of built-in web feed aggregator. In Mozilla Firefox, web feeds are formatted as "live bookmarks" and behave like a folder of bookmarks corresponding to recent entries in the feed. In Opera, a more traditional feed reader is included which stores and displays the contents of the feed.

Furthermore, most browsers can be extended via plug-ins, downloadable components that provide additional features. Most major web browsers have these user interface elements in common:

- Back and forward buttons to go back to the previous resource and forward again.

- A refresh or reload button to reload the current resource.
- A stop button to cancel loading the resource.

- A home button to return to the user's home page
- An address bar to input the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the desired resource

- A search bar to input terms into a search engine
- A status bar to display progress in loading the resource and also the URI of links when the cursor hovers over them, and page zooming capability.

Do you know that disabilities people also have their own web?? I think many of us did not realize that disabilities people also can search the internet with their own special technology created for them. More explanation as followed:

•People with disabilities, such as hearing, visual or physical; use a wide range of alternative approaches to browse for information.

•People with visual impairment or reading difficulties rely on speech output, Braille displays or screen magnification.

•Available web browsers:

i. Braillesurf – Speech output, Braille output and large text.

ii. Marco Polo - A plug-in from Netscape navigator with speech output and audio icons

•People who cannot use a keyboard rely either on voice recognition, or devices which can be controlled by head, mouth or eye movements.

•Available web browsers:
ConversaWeb – voice-activated browser allowing spoken selection of links using ‘sayicon’.