What is a browser definition. Netscape Navigator was once a real competitor to Internet Explorer. However, since then he has seriously lagged behind his competitor. The reason for this is Microsoft's successful advertising and embedding Internet Explorer in Wind

Browser

Browser(from English browse - browse, flip) - this special program, allowing you to view the contents of the Internet. It allows you to access all the information resources of the network. Using a browser, you can view and download pictures, sound and video files, various text information (e-books, news, magazines, jokes), etc.

If the content of the page is displayed in the editor with the correct link - if the pagination is correct, the page is determined in terms of accessibility for blind users correctly. Regarding readability for visually impaired users, we recommend using relative relative values \u200b\u200binstead of absolute values \u200b\u200bwhen defining individual parts of a table. Let's not forget that a visually impaired reader usually has a different font size in his browser than the author believes or has a lower screen resolution.

Cards with a click are designed to access the visually impaired

A click map replaces several links to other pages. This item can sometimes be very inaccessible to users with severe visual impairment for two reasons. For a completely blind user who receives screen information using a screen reader, an interactive access map is poorly accessible, as most screen readers provide access to the click map to a lesser extent or under certain conditions. For an inaccessible viewer, the orientation of the map may be difficult because the color combination of the entire image, which is an interactive map, is very low; or because individual areas of clicks are very small and poorly distinguishable. Therefore, we recommend that you avoid using the click map or that a web page with an interactive map is accompanied by a set of text links that completely replace the individual goals of the click map.

• Command line mode browser. This type includes the earliest browsers. They do not provide the ability to view text and graphics. Such browsers only support moving using digital addresses (IP). Currently, they are practically not used, so we will not consider them in detail.

• Full screen browser. A text browser without support for multimedia (pictures, animation, etc.) Internet resources. Using it, you can view only text and links.

• Media Browser. The most common and popular browsers today. They allow you to work with almost all types of information presented on the Internet.

Add-on Browsers. They are add-ons for full-featured browsers. Most often, add-on developers use Internet explorer. Add-ons use the “engine” of this browser to display sites. Therefore, their capabilities in this area are completely identical with Internet Explorer. Add-ons just change the interface and add some features that Microsoft developers have ignored.

Netscape Navigator was once a real competitor to Internet Explorer. However, since then he has seriously lagged behind his competitor. The reason for this is Microsoft’s successful advertising and Internet Explorer integration into Windows

A pop-up list from which the user selects the landing page can also be a good substitute. However, if matching is necessary, do not use "server side" cards, but rather "client side" cards. As an alternative description of the image, which is the map itself, give a brief description of the click map. Using both options is important. Automatically changing page content can be a serious barrier to accessibility for visually impaired users.

Since most users are accustomed to surfing the Internet using multimedia-enabled browsers, do not completely forget those that display only text. Of course, browsers of this kind are rarely used, but their page loading speed is impressive. Without graphic and design elements, as well as without tables, many pages load almost instantly. One of the most popular full-screen browsers is Lynx, which is part of the Lynix operating system. Let's consider it in more detail.

Assistive technologies make the page accessible by making it readable by the visually impaired, and a blind visitor can begin to view it. If the page is automatically restored during this reading, the page is converted using a screen reader and sent to the user, who must read it from the very beginning and cannot receive the information that he is looking for.

Therefore, you need to restore the page only if the user activates an element designed for this purpose. I.e. for example, it is not possible to move a link to a specific section of a page when it is moved by a tab after links, which causes the page to reset and the aforementioned phenomenon.

• Lynx is a very convenient browser, easy to configure, fully Russified. Distributed on disk bundled with the Lynx operating system. Therefore, the vast majority of Lynx users work in a Lynx environment.

The undoubted advantages of this browser is that it can work on very old computers, as well as a significant acceleration of page loading time due to the lack of graphic elements and pictures. The latter quality can not always be considered an advantage, but if you need to go to a page on the Internet only to evaluate its content, then sometimes it is worth using Lynx. Moreover, it works great "paired" with a browser that supports graphics

Frames are designed for access to visually impaired

The use of web frames is still widespread, despite several shortcomings. On the other hand, however, it cannot be argued that they cannot be used in terms of accessibility. By following the rules below, you can also access the framework page for visually impaired users. The name should reflect the purpose of the structure and its relationship with other structures. Offer our services without frames. Here is a description of the frames. The purpose of the frames is described here, for what purpose they are created and what content is downloaded.

• The most common and informative browsers. 99% of global Internet users use the capabilities of these browsers intensively and everyday. Most used: Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape Navigator. Below we will consider each of them in more detail, but first a brief history of the creation of such browsers.

• Internet Explorer is the most popular browser in the world and the undisputed leader. You do not need to specifically install it, since it is included in the standard package of any of Windows.

• Changes from one version to another have almost no effect on the interface; they are rather aimed at the core of the program.

• Microsoft's browser is really very powerful, with rich features. It has a convenient and user-friendly interface, familiar to all Windows users, which is a great advantage over competitors.

Internet explorer

• Internet explorer

today it supports absolutely all the technologies used to create sites. These are all kinds of multimedia clips (video and audio), data encryption in electronic commerce systems, various hypertext markup languages \u200b\u200b(HTML, XML, etc.). Internet Explorer works correctly with the vast majority of existing sites. Therefore, the user of this browser is unlikely to be able to meet a site that does not display correctly.

Not inferior to Internet Explorer

It is also clear from the example that speakers should be omitted. It is clear that not all sites will be managed and supported in two versions - frames and frameless, but this option is very suitable for their availability. In addition, a textual description of how specific structures are used is desirable. A link to this description should be available at the beginning of each frame. If you do not want the link to this descriptive document to be displayed on the screen for each reader, you can hide it, for example, using cascading styles.

•   This browser has a lot of advantages and capabilities, and with each new version it becomes even more.

•   Disadvantages of Internet Explorer

• The browser in question does not have multi-window mode. Many users, of course, do not suffer from this, but there are people (mainly professional designers, webmasters and programmers) who would benefit from the multi-window function.

This browser   relatively slowly processes and displays the pages of sites. However, this is also controversial. For users whose Internet connection is very fast (cable and satellite Internet, leased line), this drawback does not play any role. But if you still remember the people who use slow communication lines (dial-up telephone lines), which are the majority in Runet, this disadvantage may turn out to be significant.

IN source code pages loaded in frames, select the appropriate headers. They are not visible anywhere on the screen, but for visually impaired users they are accessible thanks to assistive technology. Accordingly, the selected names of these pages can also help in a clearer orientation.

The designation of each link skillfully describes its purpose, even without the surrounding context.

Again, we remind you that it is not always known what screen resolution is used by the user. For shorter users, the lowest resolution is often set so that the displayed objects are as possible on the screen as possible. A link to each link shows where it goes, regardless of whether the user is familiar with the context of the link. Most blind users usually first recognize the content of a page by looking at the links on that page, and then view the entire content of the page.

• Unsuccessfully implemented functions for storing information from the Internet.

• Very inconvenient disabling graphics when browsing sites - you need a very long walk on the menu to put the desired checkmark in the settings.

• Opera is the main competitor of Internet Explorer. Browser

• Opera has a very large number of advantages that competitors do not have.

• It is the fastest browser in the world.

• This browser takes up very little disk space and requires a minimum of system resources. Opera's motto is: “More features - less size.”

• Another advantage of this browser is its almost completely customizable interface. The user can change any part of it at will. It is worth noting that Opera is a multi-window browser.

• The Opera browser has many useful additional features. In particular, when you open the page, it determines the speed of information transfer and the percentage of already downloaded data.

• Opera allows you to quickly, with the click of a button, turn off and on the display of graphics on the site. This browser also has very good page caching.

• Convenient bookmark list.

• All commands are duplicated on the keyboard, you can change the scale of the document from 20% to 1000% ... This list of advantages can go on and on.

•   The browser is distributed for a fee.

• Insufficiently reliable scripting. Despite the stated support for Javascript, sometimes there are overlays. Many other modern Internet technologies are not available for this browser.

• Another significant drawback is the lack of support for some Russian encodings in English versions. You have to go to all kinds of technical tricks and download additional components,

• to work fully.

• Netscape Navigator was once a real competitor to Internet Explorer. However, since then he has seriously lagged behind his competitor. The reason for this is Microsoft's successful advertising and embedding Internet Explorer in Windows.

• In addition, Netscape Navigator developers were late in the period of active development of Internet technologies with the release of a new version that supports the latest developments in this area. And when this version nevertheless appeared, it turned out to be incomplete, with many shortcomings and “holes”. This made even his fans abandon this browser.

The creators of Netscape Navigator in the latest version have built in a lot of additional utilities - an email client, a utility for communicating via IRC channels and a multimedia player, and much more. Because of this, the browser distribution has become very large. Plus, Netscape Navigator starts up very slowly and takes up a lot of system resources, since every time it loads all its utilities and components.

Color information is available without color resolution.

If possible, the purpose of the link should be apparent from the link text itself. Click here for museum information. Some visually impaired users may not recognize colors at all or use a color scheme other than the standard diagram of the operating system due to their visual defect. Therefore, it is important that the page is accessible even when the user changes the color scheme of the operating system or when it cannot interpret colors due to their visual impairment. Therefore, the web page does not contain information, the correct interpretation of which depends on the ability to perceive colors.

• Netscape Navigator often incorrectly displays many sites. And this applies not only to complex dynamic, but also simple text pages.

• Netscape was announced back in 2001, as it is obvious that there is no point in competing with Internet Explorer. Opponents of Microsoft products make up a small proportion of users, many of them do not work with Windows, so the logical choice for them would be not Netscape, but the Mozilla browser underlying it.

This browser appeared recently - at the end of 2001. A first introduction to Mozilla shows that it is very similar to Netscape Navigator. Although there are some changes in the organization of the menu. The similarities between Netscape Navigator and Mozilla are far from accidental. In April 1998, Netscape Communications, an independent company at that time, decided to redesign its popular Navigator browser, transferring it to the Gecko html page rendering engine and turning it into an open source project. Thus, the company attracted a wide range of developers interested in modifying and distributing the Netscape source code to develop the browser.

It is an error, for example, to indicate the required elements in the form or to distinguish links from the surrounding text only in a different color. The color of the foreground and background is quite contrast. A sample that reduces readability is not used in the background. The color of the font and background should be defined quite contrasted.

Font size guidelines do not use absolute units

The combination of foreground color, background color or pattern has sufficient contrast. The minimum brightness value is 125, and the color difference is 500 pixels. The more numbers, the greater the contrast of color combinations and, therefore, better readability. To define tables, frames, etc. It is also advisable to use those units where the user can change their values \u200b\u200busing browser resources.

• The source code for the Mozilla browser is already highly praised by the developer community. However, Mozilla is inferior in its capabilities to Netscape Navigator. But this applies only to that part of the program that is not directly related to

• viewing the contents of the Internet: of the additional utilities in it there is only an email client. But it’s just like the Mozilla browser

• not inferior to Internet Explorer.

• The main advantage of this browser:

• multi-window and speed.

• conveniently, it implements the function of saving information from the Internet.

• many plugins that extend the functionality of this browser. Moreover, people familiar with programming can add these additions themselves. The fact is that the source code of the Mozilla browser is open and accessible to anyone.

• The disadvantages include:

•   non-standard and unusual for the average user interface compared to Internet Explorer.

• Some functions in it work differently - not at all as it is in Windows.

• an important drawback is the incorrect display of some dynamic sites. Sometimes there are sites that are not displayed on the screen as we would like.

• Netsurf - the main emphasis is on functionality and speed; the interface is quite simple and convenient.

• Konqueror - file manager with the function of viewing pages on the Internet; Russified, works with many encodings.

• Neoplanet - the ability to change the appearance of the browser through the use of skins, you can make your own; English interface.

• MyIE2 - turns Internet Explorer into a multi-window browser; function that blocks the display of banners on pages and the opening of pop-up windows; Allows you to enable or disable the display of graphics on viewed sites with the click of a button.

• Internet Surfer - takes up very little space; convenient multi-window interface; often reduce the stability of the system and lead to various errors; most convenient add-ons are paid.

99% of Internet users use the Big Four browsers: Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape Navigator. The remaining (alternative) accounts for no more than 1%. And it's no secret that the most common given time   (and in the near future) is a browser from Microsoft - Internet Explorer. If you look at the most recent research on the prevalence of browsers, the superiority of IE is so significant that not even the most fresh versions   This browser leaves almost no hope for its co-workers.

It does not contain syntax errors that the webmaster can remove.

Since it may be difficult to read the screen for reading from the screen, it is important that the site code matches some formal grammar.

Web page does not fire faster than once per second

  For viewers with visual impairment, the use of visual effects can be very confusing and significantly difficult or completely impossible to read. Therefore, avoid using these effects, unless you can, of course, use them for texts that display important information on the site.

• According to Spylog   (these are millions of users) for the period from August to September 2004, the first 20 most popular browsers look like this:

Choosing a browser is one of the important positions of the Internet review. Many aspects depend on which browser you use, such as: speed of work, security of your computer, convenience at work, support for modern technologies, etc. I believe that it is necessary to try everything and choose the most suitable browser for all parameters. In addition, all browsers must be installed on the computer, because some sites are designed taking into account the functional features of a particular browser.

Any animations used or dynamically changing elements on the pages should not constantly change at frequencies above 1 Hz. The elements that make up the headers and lists are correctly specified in the source code. Elements that do not contain headers or lists are not marked in the source code. When using headers, make sure that you also have the correct hierarchy of headers. If the title tags are used correctly, the blind user can choose the parts of the page that really interest him or not through the screen reader, and may not read a lot of uninteresting information for him.

I think in today's time, the vast majority personal computers   have a connection to the global Internet, and the number of users of the World Wide Web is growing inexorably every year. According to some agencies, now in Russia, the number of users of the global network exceeds 60% of the total population of the country. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that many users, all their main time at the computer, spend on the Internet.

In order to get into the global network, in addition to the physical connection to it, you need a special program (s) that will allow you to comfortably browse your favorite websites and the web pages contained on them. Such programs are called browsers (sometimes they are also called browsers), from the English word "browse", which can be translated as "browse".

Despite the fact that almost all modern browsers are free - they are quite complex programs, endowed with large quantity   functions, and the development of the most popular solutions involved a lot of specialists. Their main task is to make surfing the net not only comfortable, but also safe.

A LITTLE HISTORY

At present there is enough a large number of   different browsers from different developers, but from their total mass we can distinguish the five most popular products - Internet Explorer, Mozilla firefox, Google chrome, Opera and Safari.

In the late 90s, the main browser for most was Netscape Navigator. But Microsoft’s policy has radically changed the balance of power in this area for years to come. It was at this time that it was decided to ship InternetExplorer along with windows system, which literally squeezed out all competitors from the browser market.

The Internet at that time was not so developed, and the web pages themselves looked quite simple. Therefore, there was no need for ordinary users to think about the convenience of surfing, the speed of work on the network and the supported standards, and for viewing text pages “behind the eyes” there was enough built-in solution.

Having captured the lion's share of the browser market, the software giant did not calm down and continued to improve IE (Internet Explorer). In 2001, along with Windows XP, its 6th version was released, which for 5.5 years was the main Internet tool for the vast majority of users, and Microsoft itself rested on its laurels, not thinking of releasing new versions of its browser.

It was such a long stagnation that made it possible for competitors to present alternative solutions to users, instead of the tedious Internet Explorer. The Norwegian company Opera, having developed a new engine Presto, introduced opera browser   7.0, which many liked and was rapidly gaining popularity. But the biggest “surprise” for Microsoft was the rebirth of the seemingly destroyed Netscape. Its engine was the basis of the Mozilla Suite product, from which Firefox emerged in 2004, which later won a quarter of the browser market from IE.

This trouble for Explorer did not end there. In 2003, Apple on its computers replaced the product from Microsoft with its own brainchild called Safari. And not so long ago, in the 2008th, the search giant Google released its version of the browser - Google Chrome.

Having thrown off such activity on the market, Microsoft began in a hurry to release new versions of Internet Explorer, along with Windows Vista   its 7th version was released, and with Windows 7 - the 8th. But it was already late, these versions were not able to compete with their rivals, because their functionality only copied the one that other developers had long used in their products. Despite the fact that the latest 9th version of IE can be called a truly modern solution, the monopoly in this field has been irretrievably lost.

In the modern browser market, among the aforementioned products, a serious struggle has developed for the sympathy of users, who sometimes because of aggressive advertising is not so easy to make the right choice in favor of a particular decision. As you probably already guessed, in this material, we will get acquainted with the main features of the Big Five browsers, and also talk about their advantages and disadvantages.

MAIN CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING BROWSERS

What should I pay attention to first of all when choosing a browser?

Web Standards Support

For the general principles of the global Internet, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is responsible. It is she who develops and approves all existing web standards that all web pages on the Internet must comply with. Therefore, for the correct display of sites and web pages, the browser must maintain the approved web standards and the more he knows them, the better.

To check the compatibility of browsers with certain standards, the most frequently used test program is ACID 3, in which the scored 100 points correspond to full compatibility with all existing web standards.

User interface

The presence of a thoughtful and intuitive user interface is the key to the success and popularity of any browser. Indeed, it is to provide users with convenient surfing the net and is the main purpose of these products. Developers and designers have to seriously puzzle over how to best place all kinds of controls for browser functions. A heavily cluttered interface can be just as uncomfortable as it is superlaconic, so the goal of manufacturers is to find the optimal balance of the layout of elements in the browser window. At the same time, do not forget that user interface   It should be not only comfortable, but also outwardly attractive.

Functionality

Modern browsers have become like a small operating system - through them we browse pages with a complex interactive interface, watch movies and listen to music, use them as development tools, download files from the network, use them as FTP clients and much more. Therefore, the majority of users began to relate to the browser not just as a trivial “page viewer,” but as a serious working tool that should have broad capabilities and be convenient in everyday work.

Security

Modern browsers pay close attention to security issues, but, nevertheless, fully protected browsers do not exist. Unfortunately, cybercriminals constantly find more and more vulnerabilities in browsers that can infect users' computers or gain access to their personal data. Developers have to close up the discovered holes with the regular release of updates, and the faster this happens, the higher the security of their product.

INTERNETEXPLORER

We will start from the very popular browserwhich has remained so for many years. True in lately   this product has lost more than half of its fans, and its usage has dropped to 40% worldwide.

The current version of the browser from Microsoft is Internet Explorer 9. For two years of its development, the manufacturer has done serious work on the bugs, which has resulted in the support of almost all modern standards, including newfangled HTML 5 and CSS 3. In the specialized test ACID 3, 9- The second version of Explorer scored 95 points out of 100 possible. By the way, IE 8 had 20 points in the same test.

To process the multimedia content of web pages, Internet Explorer actively uses the hardware capabilities of the computer's central and graphic processors, which significantly increases its speed.

The interface of the latest version of this browser has undergone a radical revision. Microsoft itself calls it “compact,” because it is based on just one panel where all the necessary controls are located:

• left - back / forward and address barcombined with the search field, including the update and cancel buttons;
• in the center - a panel for tabs of viewed pages, and to the right of them - a button for opening a new tab;
• on the right - buttons to go to home page, favorites and browser settings.

Ascetic panelInternet Explorer 9

Despite such an ascetic design, the new IE turned out to be quite stylish with a catchy design.

The address bar of the browser meets all modern requirements, automatically substituting options from the visit log or from the list of previously visited sites when entering the address itself.

Due to the fact that the entire user interface fit in one line, there is not so much space for tabs, which seriously complicates navigation with a large number of them. True, there is the possibility of transferring the tab bar to a separate line. It is also possible to move any tab to its own window by dragging it to any place on the desktop.

Another interesting point is the ability to pin tabs in the Windows7 taskbar, which subsequently allows you to run your favorite pages, like regular applications.

At the bottom of the browser screen, there is a pop-up prompt line that occurs during certain user actions. At first, it is easy not to notice it and think for a long time why the browser does not take any action on your teams.

The latest version of the browser received a new file download manager and a system for tracking the performance of installed plugins.

Despite the improved protection against malicious sites, it is in the brainchild of Microsoft that they find the most vulnerabilities, and their correction, unfortunately, does not happen quickly enough.

Another drawback of IE is the very meager ability to expand its functionality with plugins, as the code of this browser is not available to third-party developers.

MOZILLA   FIREFOX

Pretty long time   Mozilla Firefox browser ranked second in popularity among the top five browsers. Today current version   has an index of 9. True, it is worth considering that the last five releases are shared by only 7.5 months.

In truth, Firefox 4.0 has become revolutionary among them, having received a new design and a new core. Nevertheless, subsequent versions contain only improvements that improve browser performance, fault tolerance and security.

With the support of all kinds of modern web standards, this browser does not; in the aforementioned ACID 3 test, it scores 100 points out of 100 possible.

Thanks to the modern engine, the overall speed of work new version   Firefox has accelerated significantly, including page loading speed and the launch of the application itself. Wherein hardware acceleration graphics allows you to easily view the complex interactive content of multimedia sites.

After some criticism of users, which the developers took into account, starting with the 4th version, Firefox received a new modern interface. In the upper left corner there is a menu button with various settings, and the panel for page tabs has moved up. Below it is a navigation bar, which includes:

• left, back / forward buttons;
• in the middle, the address bar with buttons to add to favorites the viewed pages and their updates;
• to the right is the search box and the home button.

Even lower is the bookmarks bar, where you can keep links to the most visited pages.

The browser is endowed with a smart address bar, which at the beginning of entering the address displays a window with prompts where all matches are marked with a highlighted font. Also, using it, you can go to any open tab.

For the most visited sites in Firefox there is a very useful function of pinning tabs, prescribing them for permanent residence in the left part of the tab bar. After the browser is opened again, this type of tab will always be in its place.

Nevertheless, the main advantage of Mozilla Firefox can be called its rich functionality. The code of this product is open, so the browser has a huge number of various add-ons that make it a real powerful working tool that allows you to solve any problems. Moreover, with the help of special wallpapers and themes, plug-ins, interface settings, tabs and bookmarks, you can transform appearance   browser for any of your vagaries. All these joys are on a special site dedicated to add-ons for this browser.

Despite the fact that Firefox is the second browser by the number of vulnerabilities found, they are fixed by the developers quickly enough, which significantly increases the security of user data.

GOOGLE   CHROME

Despite its youth, to date, Chrome has broken into second place in the world, ahead of Mozilla Firefox. In principle, this is not surprising, since this browser is the brainchild of the search giant Google, which has in its arsenal a powerful technical base and great financial capabilities.

Today, current version is Google Chrome 17. Such a high index of the product is explained by the choice of a slightly different policy for its assignment - the browser receives it immediately after the developers make any significant changes.

For the support of web standards in the case of this Internet browser, you need not worry, in the ACID 3 test, Chrome shows a 100 percent result.

Speed \u200b\u200bClaims google work   Chrome is not. Moreover, according to many experts - this is generally the most fast browser   in the world. Thanks to modern WebKit visualization technology, the browser opens pages literally instantly. It also quickly launches complex web applications and 3D-graphics, the processing of which is carried out at the hardware level.

As for the design of the user interface of this browser, it can be called strict and concise. It was Chrome that set the trendy trend for placing tabs at the very top of the window. Under the tab bar is a toolbar called developers omnibar, on which are located:

• Left - buttons forward / backward, update / stop;
• In the center - omnibox - a smart address bar, combined with a search and a button to add a page to bookmarks. At the same time, search results or web page addresses begin to appear as you type;
• On the right is the browser settings and management button.

Even lower you can enable the display of the bookmark bar.

As in Firefox, in Google Chrome there is the ability to pin tabs with the most frequently visited pages, after which they move to the left side of the screen, taking a more compact size.

As in Internet Explorer, there is a pop-up auxiliary line that appears at the bottom of the screen during certain user actions, for example, when downloading files from the network.

Initially, Chrome has built in a fairly large number of useful functions, for example, an automatic translator of web pages or displaying thumbnails of frequently visited sites and launched applications on a special tab called a page quick access. But if you don’t think the browser’s starting functionality is small or you want to transform its appearance, then you have access to many applications, extensions and additional themes that can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store.

Another undoubted advantage of the product google is the attitude of developers to its security system. Built-in protection against phishing and malware is a good help in the fight against cybercriminals trying to exploit browser vulnerabilities for their own purposes. Also, the automatic update system provides timely installation of patches and various fixes that increase the overall reliability of the security system.

Despite the fact that the Norwegian browser in the world ranking takes the fourth line, far behind the first three, in Russia it is a very popular browser. For several years, Opera has been a favorite among domestic users, and I must say, it is well deserved.

The current version of the browser is 11.6. In the ACID 3 test, Opera shows one hundred percent result, so this browser has no problems with the support of all modern web standards.

The Opera core is constantly being improved by developers, which is the key to fast and stable operation of the browser on the Internet. The speed of opening web pages does not cause any complaints, and for many experts, it is considered a reference. For displaying complex animation in Opera, a specialized high-speed graphic library called Vega is responsible for achieving fast and smooth image processing.

Opera's user interface is somewhat similar to Mozilla Firefox, however, not in terms of design, but in terms of the location of functional elements. In the upper left corner is the button of the main menu, which includes all kinds of browser settings. Web page tabs are traditionally located on top. On the right, on the tab bar, there is a button that reflects the history closed tabs. The toolbar, located below, has the following elements:

• Left - back / forward buttons, page refresh, enter;
• In the center, traditionally, a smart address bar with buttons for a list of RSS feeds and favorites;
• On the right is the search query field.

By default, Opera includes a sidebar display, which is placed vertically on the left and contains buttons: Bookmarks, Widgets, Unite, Notes, Downloads, History and settings of the sidebars. It is also possible to enable the bookmarks bar.

Opera browser has one interesting feature   - the ability to group tabs. To do this, just drag one tab to another and a group opening / closing icon appears in the form of a triangle next to them. When you hover over the tab group header, the browser will display thumbnails of all the grouped web pages.

If we talk about the initial functionality of the Norwegian browser, that is, about the features that the browser has immediately after installation, perhaps Opera has the richest ones. The developers have endowed it with such a variety of options that such a gentleman's set is quite capable of satisfying almost all the basic needs of users. It features a download manager, BitTorrent support, spell checking and more. A pleasant bonus for users can be the existence of an express panel - a special page with displayed thumbnails of the most visited sites.

At the same time, the Norwegian developers went even further, and added the ability to further expand the functionality of their product using special mini-applications that are hosted on the Opera website.

Opera's security system is at the highest level. When visiting sites, the browser in real time checks their data and gives a message to users in case of danger. There is the possibility of using private tabs, for example, when working in online banking.

The last browser in our review will be a browser from Apple. It is worth noting that this product is more focused on the market for computers manufactured by the company itself and using the Mac OS operating system. Despite this, its share in the world market is about 5%.

The current version of this browser has an index of 5. Web standards support is organized at the highest level and the ACID 3 test passes Safari one hundred percent.

Perhaps on native systems, Apple’s browser performance is the highest, but in Windows, various tests show average results relative to competitors, which, on the other hand, is not bad at all. The browser supports hardware graphics acceleration, accelerating the rendering of interactive web pages and has an optimized caching algorithm that allows you to load previously visited pages at a very high speed. It is noteworthy that Apple uses the same engine (WebKit) in its browser as Google in Chrome.

The user interface in this browser is slightly different from the four previous ones, which, in general, is not surprising. The appearance of the classic control panel for some users may seem a little old-fashioned, so it has a header, and page tabs are located under all panels. At the top, in the browser header, the name of the page being viewed is displayed. Below is a toolbar that contains mostly familiar elements:

• On the left are the back / forward buttons.
• In the central part there is a smart address bar that starts with the “+” button, which performs the function of adding a page to reading lists, a specialized page that displays thumbnails of the most visited resources and a bookmark bar. In its right part, there are buttons for viewing RSS feeds (appears if it is on the site), Reader mode activation (appears if it is possible), and page updates.
• On the right are the search bar, as well as the menu buttons of the current page and browser settings.

Further, below, there is the bookmarks bar and only below it is the tabs bar, which, when viewing a single page, is not visible at all. In order to add the first tab, you must refer to the corresponding menu item of the current page, which is not obvious to many users. However, after the tab bar appears on the screen, they are added using the “+” button located on its right side.

One of Safari’s interesting features is the Reader mode, which allows you to select the material of an individual article in an independent pop-up window that has its own font size and other text formatting elements. All other site elements in this mode are obscured, allowing the user to focus only on reading specific material.

A very original Safari page is a page of frequently visited sites called TopSites. The developers endowed it with a three-dimensional design, which looks quite stylish and beautiful, however, like all Apple products.

The general functionality of the browser from Apple can be greatly enriched with the help of extensions located on the developer's site. Moreover, if until recently, their bulk was available only to Mac OS users, now plug-ins for Safari are also available on the Windows platform.

It’s quite difficult to clearly say the security of this browser. As already noted, the majority of users of this browser are owners of devices with the Mac OS operating system, which are not as popular among attackers as Windows, which means that hacking of the system through Safari is much less common. And the developers themselves are reluctant to disclose information about the security problems of their product, motivating this with the goals of protecting user data. The company believes that without disclosing and confirming data about certain vulnerabilities in its browser, it will retain confidential information that could be used by cybercriminals to bypass the protection system.

CONCLUSIONS

Developers of modern browser solutions spend a lot of effort and money to please users. After all, it is necessary to take care of many factors that contribute to the successful promotion of your own product on the market. Among them:

• support for web standards for the correct and complete display of web pages;
• convenient and nice user interface;
• a powerful engine that can quickly process pages containing a complex graphical interface, 3D-images, audio and video content;
• ensuring the security of user data.

A few years ago, the position internet browser   Explorer seemed unshakable, and only a handful of enthusiasts resorted to using alternative solutions. Today, the situation has changed dramatically. Microsoft's browser has lost all of its advantage, and its popularity continues to melt rapidly. True, we can say that the 9th version of Internet Explorer turned out to be decent, it is faster and more convenient previous versions, and also contains a number of important improvements. The truth is nothing revolutionary, in comparison with competing solutions, he can not offer, which is unlikely to cause a massive influx of users using other browsers now. Although, this version is quite capable of stopping migration to competitors' products.

Google Chrome, despite its youth, has been rapidly gaining popularity recently. Already, many rating agencies put it in second place in popularity, which for many years belonged to the browser Firefox. Developers invest a lot of money and effort into their offspring, which pays off handsomely. According to many analysts, in its arsenal, Chrom has the fastest engine and better system security. At the same time, the browser acted as a trendsetter in placing page tabs on top, as well as combining address and search strings.

Despite the fact that Mozilla Firefox has somewhat lost its position in the world ranking to a competitor from Google, this browser is very popular among users, and in Russia it is a leader in use in desktop computers. The most important advantage of Firefox over its competitors is the existence of a huge number of free add-ons, with which it is possible to radically change the functionality of the browser, its interface and appearance. True, sometimes, for such flexible extensibility, you have to pay increased requirements for random access memory, a slower user interface and browser crashes. IN latest versions   of this browser, the developers are doing their best to increase the stability of its work, not only eliminating memory leaks, but also improving the mechanism of its use.

For many years, the Norwegian Opera browser has been one of the most popular solutions among Russian users. Initially, this browser has a very rich functionality and a set of useful services, which makes it an attractive solution for those people who want to get everything they need right out of the box, without resorting to installing add-ons. Without any special drawbacks, Opera’s decline in popularity can only be explained by the activity of competitors who are constantly improving their products, offering equally attractive solutions in this area.

Safari browser being developed apple   and initially focused on use in their own operating systems   Mac OS, it's pretty hard to fight for a place in the sun in a niche in Windows systems. Many experts agree that the performance of this browser on the Windows platform is much more modest than when used in the "native" OS. Nevertheless, it has a fast engine that can cope with tasks of any complexity and its own unique user interface, which has its fans.

For all those who want to see browsers in action, our portal regularly performs large-scale tests of the latest and most popular versions of Internet browsers, the last of which you can familiarize yourself with.

Despite the fact that the browser is a product that many people work on creating, and a lot of money is invested in its development, it remains free, which gives users the opportunity, if they have the desire and time, to get acquainted with all the main solutions in this field.