What+are+web browsers  ?

A 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. ...

The primary purpose of a web browser is to bring information resources to the user. This process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resources ﻿Identifier (URI), for example // http://www.google.com //, into the browser. The prefix of the URI determines how the URI will be interpreted. The most commonly used kind of URI starts with // http: // and identifies a resource to be retrieved over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol ﻿ (HTTP). Many browsers also support a variety of other prefixes, such as // https: // for HTTPS ﻿, //ftp:// for the File Transfer Protocol , and file for local files. Prefixes that the web browser cannot directly handle are often handed off to another application entirely.

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 history list, showing resources previously visited in a list (typically, the list is not visible all the time and has to be summoned)
 * A //refresh// or //reload// button to reload the current resource.
 * A //stop// button to cancel loading the resource. In some browsers, the stop button is merged with the reload button.
 * 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 and display it.
 * 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