What was first web browser

How do browsers work and where did the need for cross-browser testing come from? Before the web browsers we knew today, there were the first browsers, which are no longer in use or have highly evolved. There are a few main components that make up the browser. For more of a deep dive to understand what happens between A you clicking a link or typing in a URL and B you seeing a fully rendered web page , we can look closer at these elements to understand how browsers work.

The UI, or user interface, is basically the browser wrapper. These are standards in all browsers. The browser acts as a client to contact the web server and request information. When you search something on Google and click on a link or enter a URL in the address bar, the web server locates and sends the information you just requested to the web browser.

The browser then communicates with the network to ask for all the documents that make up the page. Browsers can also display other more advanced material like interactivity and animations made with JavaScript with internal JavaScript interpreters.

The browser engine bridges the UI and the rendering engine. The rendering engine of every browser is different, which means a web page will likely look different depending on the browser. So why do browsers act differently? Why can you write a web application that works properly on Firefox, but when you pull it up on Safari, certain elements are hidden or unusable?

This is largely why you see discrepancies in browser experiences. View all Firefox Browsers. View all Products. Work for a mission-driven organization that makes people-first products. More About Mozilla. More Mozilla Innovation. World history is rife with epic power struggles, world-conquering tyrants, and heroic underdogs. University pioneers wrote simple software that sparked an information revolution, and battle for browser superiority and internet users.

But progress was swift, and by they were able to run complex programs. Governments and universities across the globe thought it would be great if the machines could talk, nurturing collaboration and scientific breakthroughs. That sparked a revolution in computer networking. New networks formed, connecting universities and research centers across the globe.

It was restricted to university and government researchers, students, and private corporations. There were dozens of programs that could trade information over telephone lines, but none of them were easy to use. For the first time, text documents were linked together over a public network—the web as we know it. By , the web exploded. Universities, governments, and private corporations all saw opportunity in the open internet.

In fact, the development of Mosaic was funded by the Gore Bill, introduced in by - you guessed it - Al Gore. It went through a variety of releases, and by , further development of the browser was supported by the National Science Foundation. In , Mosaic was licensed by Microsoft to create Internet Explorer. Shout out to Andreessen and Zawinski, giving the people what they want electronic mail, chatrooms, DogPile! Mosaic incorporated the initial functionalities offered by Nexus and embedded graphics directly in web pages.

When they released it, the browser was compatible with Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, and Unix X Window System - the most commonly used operating systems at the time. Images were originally displayed in a separate window, though, in later versions, they were shown inline.

How the browser got its name is an interesting story. After a brainstorming session, they settled on World-Wide-Web the hyphens were later removed. Cailliau found the name difficult to pronounce in French, but it was the best from the alternatives — Information Mesh , The Information Mine and Mine of Information.

Sir Tim realised that for the world wide web to become popular, browsers had to be created for other operating systems. Line Mode also known as LMB was, thus, the first multi-platform browser.