What is a Browser?

June 30, 2009

A very telling video about what the average person is thinking when they use the Web. I listened to an interesting discussion about this subject on Sitepoint’s podcast.

I think the reason there is confusion about the difference between a browser and a search engine is the integration of search into the Web browser. Search is the function that users do the most of. I could see why they don’t understand the difference.

I believe this video is evidence that a lot of people are not so concerned about which browser they use and will probably stick with their default. Web designers are going to still have to consider IE6 for a long time and then determine what strategy to employ with IE6.

One strategy that I am investigating is Andy Clarke’s Universal IE6 CSS. I have implemented it on this site. I like the idea of serving up the user the basic content without styling.

BTW, a browser is software that you use to view Web pages. The more popular browsers include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome.

A search engine is a Web site that you use to search for things on the Internet. Two of the most popular are Google and Yahoo. Many modern Web browsers use Google when you use the Search box in the right hand corner of the browser.