Common Features of a Web Browser

Features of a Web Browser:

A simple, modern browser possessed six common features. These are physical features which the user uses in order to interact with the main program; either directly or indirectly. Starting from the top, you have what is called the Title bar; the topmost bar that indicates the title of the page being displayed in the current window, and the browser name. At the extreme right are the “minimise”, “maximize” and the “close” clickable icons. Under the Title bar comes the popular Address bar; the white space or line portion where you input the address of the website you are about to visit. The Address bar also contains additional clickable icons like the backward and forward buttons which sit at the extreme left, and the refresh icon that assists in refreshing the page in case of network problem. One other service available in the address bar is the Quick or Instant search box, which gives the web surfer a handy opportunity to look up or search for anything directly without having to go to the search engine site. Available search engines include MSN Live, Google and Yahoo! Search. Beyond the Address bar comes the Menu bar. As the name indicates, a Menu bar is a collection of “additional services” available for the web surfer, like the file, edit, view, favourites and the help menus. For instance, you can navigate to your system directory, save some web pages or print the current page directly, all using the file menu. The favourite menu allows you to bookmark the current page and so on. Down the Menu bar is the Tool bar. Simply put, the Tool bar is the visual representative of the Menu bar. It features virtually all the major services in “buttons”, “icons” or “clickable thumbnails”, for ease of use. Instead of going through the menu one at a time, one can easily select a service directly from the Tool bar. One additional feature available with the Tool bar of most modern browsers is the Quick tab icon. The tab is simply a “quick page” within a browser window. You don’t need to launch another browser window while browsing. With a simple click, you can get a new browser page within your working environment, especially with the Internet Explorer 7 and 8 versions; an empty Quick tab icon is always handy, waiting for your click. You can press “Ctrl + T” in Mozilla Firefox, to have a new tab launched. You can equally right-click a link within a web page, and select the “open in new tab” option. Within a second or two, the selected link will be launched in another tab. After the Tool bar is the Display window, the rectangular space sitting at the heart of the browser, below the Tool bar. The work of the Display window of course is to display the web site page you requested through the address you typed in the Address bar, remember? If you typed a wrong address, it will notify you immediately that “The Page Cannot be displayed” or something similar to that, depending on the type of browser you are using. Also, when your Internet connection is having trouble due to low bandwidth, excessive rain, or physical disconnection of your cables, the same page may show up.

The last one is the bar sitting below the Display window, called the Process bar. It tells you the speed at which the browser is loading up your pages, through messages like “40% loaded...” or “4 items remaining...” and the like, depending on the browser. When it finished loading the page, it notifies you that the browser is “done”. In some browsers like the Internet Explorer, the Process bar notifies you about the status of the site you are visiting; whether it is safe or not, through the “protected mode” notification it displays at the extreme right. In the case of Mozilla Firefox, it uses a section of the process bar for additional browser plug-ins, which are minimalist applications that assist the browser to carry out some additional functionalities. These are the major features of a modern browser. The arrangement of the bars or icons may vary depending on the design and looks of the browser.

Also, the new Google Chrome browser comes with a different looks and feels. All the same; looking at the content of the menus available at the top-right corner of the browser page, one can be rest assured of having all he needs. The browser come with all the mentioned features above, but they are arranged differently. A user new to Google Chrome may find it difficult to trace some of the most common tools he is used to in other browsers like the Internet Explorer. For instance, the title bar contains only the Google logo at the top-right corner; you can only find the title of your page on the tab hosting your active page. It is equally the title bar that is hosting the tab pages, which also gives you the chance to launch additional tabs as you need. Beyond the address bar is a new tab that holds your bookmarked or favourite pages. Also, the address bar in Google Chrome has an in-built search tool. You can type a word, key-word or a phrase to search directly from there, without having to go to the Google Search site. However, as you become used to the browser, you may find these tools and features handy, despite their mode of arrangement.

At other times, you may come across some additional bars, especially on the Internet Explorer, with all sorts of icons providing numerous services to the user. Such additional functionalities are third party applications in the form of Tool bars. For instance, there is the popular Windows Live Toolbar, and Google Toolbar which are mostly downloaded separately from the Microsoft and Google websites, respectively. With a Google Toolbar, you can access Gmail (the Google Email program), weather report, quick search and other available services. There is equally the Yahoo Toolbar providing similar services.