What is a web browser, anyway?

Estimated reading time: 1 minute.

For the uninitiated, computer jargon often seems unintelligible. The resulting confusion even allows technical support people to determine a customer’s level of understanding by observing the way they use (and mis-use) common terms.

The confusion is understandable. If someone uses their computer only for web browsing and email, and especially if their email client is web-based, the dividing lines between hardware and software, software and service, and local and remote data… tend to blur.

Mozilla, the folks who develop and maintain the web browser Firefox, recently published a useful guide that disentangles some important, common terminology: “What is the difference between the internet, browsers, search engines and websites?

Anyone who’s ever wondered how a web browser is different from “the Internet” should read the article. There’s a good chance it will clarify things for you.

About jrivett

Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

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