Browsers and their capabilities

a browser is a software application used to locate, retrieve and display content on the World Wide Web, including Web pages, images, video and other files. As a client /server model, the browser is the client run on a computer that contacts the Web server and requests information. The Web server sends the information back to the Web browser which displays the results on the computer or other Internet-enabled device that supports a browser.

Internet Explorer

A Web browser that made its debut in 1995 as Microsoft's response to Netscape, one of the first graphical-based Web browsers and, at the time, the dominant browser in use with control of over 90 percent of the market. Initially called Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE), Internet Explorer(IE) has long held the title of most popular browser in use, despite strong competition from the likes of Mozilla Firefox, Apple's Safari,Opera and Google Chrome.As with most modern browsers, Internet Explorer supports Java,JavaScript, ActiveX, RSS, CSS and Ajax, while also offering features like tabbed browsing, private browsing, and built-in malware and phishing protection.

Firefox

Firefox is a free, open source Web browser for Windows, Linux andMac OS X. It is based on the Mozilla code base and offers customization options and features such as its capability to blockpop-up windows, tabbed browsing, privacy and security measures, smart searching, and RSS live bookmarks.

Google Chrome

An Internet browser developed by Google Inc. that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the Web faster, safer and easier. The Google Chrome browser offers features including access to favorite pages instantly with thumbnails, desktop shortcuts to launch Web applications, and independently run tabs within the browser to prevent browser crashing. Chrome browser is available for Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2.

Safari

Apple Safari is a Web browser available for the Macintosh and Windows operating systems as well as the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Safari has been designed based on the premise that the most useful browser is one that "gets out of your way and lets you simply enjoy the Web."
At the heart of Apple's Safari browser is the Web Kit engine, which is responsible for functions like displaying graphics, rendering fonts, running Java script and determining page layout. Future versions of Safari are expected to use Apple's Web Kit 2 engine, which features a split process model built directly into the framework that enables Web browser processes to run as separate processes in the operating system for improved stability and security.
Safari currently occupies the fourth position in the browser market behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Opera

A Web browser developed in 1994 by Norwegian company Telenor. Opera is boasted as being the speediest and most standards-compliant of the current browsers in use, supporting such standards as 128-bit encryption, SSL2 and 3, CSS1, partial CSS2, XML, HTML and JavaScript. Opera is available for use with the BeOS, EPOC, Linux, Symbian, OS/2, Windows and Mac operating systems.


source: www.webopedia.com

Web, Web 2.0 and Semantic Web

Web - World Wide Web

The Web, or World Wide Web, is basically a system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents are formatted in a markup language called HTML(Hyper Text Markup Language) that supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files.

This means you can jump from one document to another simply by clicking on hot spots. Not all Internet servers are part of the World Wide Web.
There are several applications called Web browsers that make it easy to access the World Wide Web; Two of the most popular being Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically refers to the transition from static HTML Web pages to a more dynamic Web that is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users.
Other improved functionality of Web 2.0 includes open communication with an emphasis on Web-based communities of users, and more open sharing of information. Over time Web 2.0 has been used more as a marketing term than a computer-science-based term. Blogs, wikis, and Web services are all seen as components of Web 2.0.
Web 2.0 was previously used as a synonym for Semantic Web, but while the two are similar, they do not share precisely the same meaning.

Semantic Web

An extension of the current Web that provides an easier way to find, share, reuse and combine information. It is based on machine-readable information and builds on XML technology's capability to define customized tagging schemes and RDF's (Resource Description Framework) flexible approach to representing data. The Semantic Web provides common formats for the interchange of data (where on the Web there is only an interchange of documents). It also provides a common language for recording how data relates to real world objects, allowing a person or a machine to start off in one database, and then move through an unending set of databases which are connected not by wires but by being about the same thing.


source: www.webopedia.com