Browsing the Web

People from all walks of life that want to access what the World of Web 2.0 offer must know how to use a Web browser.  It is the gateway to the Internet for most of the world's users.  Today there are so many browsers Internet consumers can choose from and many are free.  Although they basically possess the same utilities, they do tend to showcase some feature that may be unique to their browser.  It then becomes up to the user to determine what features are important to them and which browser provides it.  

Image of first Web browser WorldWideWeb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WorldWideWeb_FSF_GNU.png

Browsers have come a long way since the first one developed by Tim Berners-Lees in 1991. This browser was really not built for the public and was only released to a small community of physicists. On the right is an image of what the GUI looked like.  This was a far cry from the command line style of the Internet.    




It was not until 1993 that Marc Andreessen released the first cross-platform browser for commercial use.  The GUI and the function of the Mosaic browser is the vanguard of how browsers of today will behave.  It allowed for inline pictures, the use of images to line audio and video.  Andreessen created and released a Web page that demonstrates the functionality of Mosaic. 


Today's browsers are far more sophisticated and allows for more user interactivity. Users can customize their tool bars, homepages, and shortcut menus. They can employ built-in utilities that protect the users identity and leave no trace of browsing history. Web pages can be printed with user options of what to include in the print job.  Also, browsers allow users to have multiple ways at their disposal to access Web sites, for example they can type the URL in the address bar or restore the pages from their last browsing session.  


The World Wide Web seems endless and infinite, so we need the gateway to this world to be as sophisticated and "usercentric" as the Web sites that it leads us to.