Web browser guide
Today, there are many different types of web browsers available to internet users. They offer free internet browsing services, but you must have an internet provider such as wifi, broadband or DSL. One of the most popular of the browsers is Windows Internet Explorer or IE (formerly known as Microsoft Internet Explorer; MSIE). It is one out of series of graphical web browsers that have been developed by the Microsoft Corporation. It is included in the system of PCs with Windows operating systems (as of 1995). Since 1999, Internet Explorer has been the most used web browser. With Internet Explorer, you are able to view a large range of web pages that have HTML. There was a recent browser war between IE and Netscape. IE superseded Netscape by upgrading its browser with features that supported new changes in HTML, known as XML (an upgraded version that allows you to do more with less work; on the designer’s part). IE supports CSS Level 1 and 2, CSS 2.1, Dom level 2, Dom Level 1, and XML 1.0.
Mozilla Firefox (Fx) is a web browser that descends from Mozilla Application Suite, which is managed by Mozilla Corporation. As of January 2008, Firefox holds 15% of the usage share among other web browsers. This makes it the second most popular web browser after IE, which is known as its rival. Mozilla Firefox uses open-source Gecko engine. This allows implementation of current web standards and a few features that are anticipated to have additional standards. Firefox currently supports web standards such as HTML, XML, XHTML, SVG 1.1, CSS, JavaScript, DOM, MathML, DTD, XSLT, XPath and PNG images. The web browser can be downloaded if not included on the computer, special OS and space requirements apply.
Safari is a web browser that was created by Apple Inc. This web browser is included with Apple computers that have Mac OS X operating systems. It was first created in January of 2003, but wasn’t released until June 2007. This version had support for Windows XP and Windows Vista. March 18, 2008 was the release for the Windows version of Safari. Safari holds a percentage of 5.82% of the browser usage share as of January 2008.
The Opera Software company developed a web browser called Opera. It offers the common tasks other browsers have such as viewing web sites, sending and receiving emails, managing contacts, IRC online chatting, downloading files with BitTorrent and reading web feeds. It is a free web browser that can be used on PCs and mobile phones. It can run on computers with operating systems like Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris. Opera Mobile is available for smartphones and PDAs. The first version of Opera Mobile was released in the year 2000. Opera mini is also available for regular mobile phones, offered free of charge. The cell phone must have Java ME applications.
Web designers and companies must heavily consider which types of web standards to use, so that their site can be used and viewed by just about everyone. Not all web browsers have been updated to read web standards of new HTML (XHTML and XML).