How does a web browser work?
Contributors:
- BillTriplett billt@gate.net
- ColinReynolds colin@tne.co.uk
A web browser (sometimes called a "User Agent") works by using a protocol called HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) to request a specially encoded text document from a web server such as Apache or IIS. This text document contains special markup written in HyperText Markup Language (HTML). This markup is interpreted by the User Agent, the job of which is to render the document's content in an appropriate manner for the user's convenience.
The HTML may include such things as references to other web documents using hyperlinks, suggestions for text colo[u]r and position, and other content such as images and audio and visual ("multimedia") content. Web pages may employ a technique called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which is becoming more widely implemented by User Agent developers, to make layout suggestions for various media.
See also:- HTML 4.0 - Official Specifications
- Cascading Style Sheets, Level 1 Official Specifications
- C-NET's browser information page
- The Compendium of HTML Elements
- The Web Design Group
- The CSS Pointers Group
Previous | Next | Table of Contents
Follow us on Twitter | Contact Us
Copyright 1994-2012 Boutell.Com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.