Editing Web browser (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of the web browser}}

The first web browser, called [[WorldWideWeb]], was created in 1990 by Sir [[Tim Berners-Lee]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb.html |title=Tim Berners-Lee: WorldWideWeb, the first Web client |publisher=[[World Wide Web Consortium]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://livinginternet.com/w/wi_browse.htm |title=Web Browser History |last=Stewart| first=William |archive-date=20 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120213137/http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_browse.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> He then recruited [[Nicola Pellow]] to write the [[Line Mode Browser]], which displayed web pages on [[dumb terminals]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last1=Gillies |first1=James |last2=Cailliau |first2=R. |url=https://archive.org/details/howwebwasbornsto00gill|title=How the Web was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=0192862073 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/howwebwasbornsto00gill/page/6 6]|url-access=registration}}</ref> The [[Mosaic (web browser)|Mosaic]] web browser was released in April 1993, and was later credited as the first web browser to find mainstream popularity.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Calore |first=Michael |date=2010-04-22 |title=April 22, 1993: Mosaic Browser Lights Up Web With Color, Creativity |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2010/04/0422mosaic-web-browser/ |access-date=2022-10-31 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref name="bloomberg">{{cite news |date=17 March 2011 |title=Bloomberg Game Changers: Marc Andreessen |publisher=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/video/67758394 |access-date=7 December 2011}}</ref> Its innovative [[graphical user interface]] made the [[World Wide Web]] easy to navigate and thus more accessible to the average person. This, in turn, sparked the Internet boom of the 1990s, when the Web grew at a very rapid rate.<ref name="bloomberg" /> The lead developers of Mosaic then founded the [[Netscape]] corporation, which released the Mosaic-influenced [[Netscape Navigator]] in 1994. Navigator quickly became the [[Usage share of web browsers#Older reports (pre-2000)|most popular]] browser.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mwdwebsites.com/nj-web-design-web-browsers.html|title=The Evolution of the Web Browsers|last=Enzer|first=Larry|date=31 August 2018|website=Monmouth Web Developers|access-date=31 August 2018|archive-date=31 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831174847/https://www.mwdwebsites.com/nj-web-design-web-browsers.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Microsoft]] debuted [[Internet Explorer]] in 1995, leading to a [[browser war]] with Netscape. Within a few years, Microsoft gained a dominant position in the browser market for two reasons: it bundled Internet Explorer with its popular [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] [[operating system]] and did so as [[freeware]] with no restrictions on usage. The market share of Internet Explorer peaked at over 95% in the early 2000s.<ref name="searchenginejournal.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.searchenginejournal.com/mozilla-firefox-internet-browser-market-share-gains-to-74/1082/ |title=Mozilla Firefox Internet Browser Market Share Gains to 7.4% | first=Loren | last=Baker | work=Search Engine Journal |date=24 November 2004}}</ref> In 1998, Netscape launched what would become the [[Mozilla Foundation]] to create a new browser using the [[open-source software]] model. This work evolved into the [[Firefox]] browser, first released by Mozilla in 2004. Firefox's market share peaked at 32% in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Routley|first=Nick|date=20 January 2020|title=Internet Browser Market Share (1996–2019)|url=https://www.visualcapitalist.com/internet-browser-market-share/|access-date=4 November 2021|website=Visual Capitalist|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] released its [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]] browser in 2003; it remains the dominant browser on Apple devices, though it did not become popular elsewhere.<ref name="browsershare">{{cite web|title=StatCounter August 2011 data|url=http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201108-201108-bar|access-date=8 May 2021}}</ref>

[[Google]] debuted its [[Google Chrome|Chrome]] browser in 2008, which steadily took market share from Internet Explorer and became the most popular browser in 2012.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://digitaltrends-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/2011/09/net-applications-browser-market.jpg |title=Internet Explorer usage to plummet below 50 percent by mid-2012 | work=[[Digital Trends]] | date=3 September 2011 | format=[[JPEG]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=StatCounter April-May 2012 data |url=https://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201204-201205 |access-date=8 May 2021}}</ref> Chrome has [[usage share of web browsers|remained dominant]] ever since.<ref name="statcounter" /> In 2015, Microsoft replaced Internet Explorer with [[Microsoft Edge Legacy|Edge [Legacy]]] for the [[Windows 10]] release.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gibbs |first=Samuel |date=2018-03-19 |title=Windows 10: Microsoft is looking to force people to use its Edge browser |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/19/windows-10-microsoft-force-people-edge-browser-windows-mail-chrome-firefox |access-date=2024-07-28 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In 2020, this legacy version was replaced by a new [[Chromium_(web_browser)|Chromium]]-based version of [[Microsoft Edge|Edge]].

Since the early 2000s, browsers have greatly expanded their [[HTML]], [[CSS]], [[JavaScript]], and [[multimedia]] capabilities. One reason has been to enable more sophisticated websites, such as [[Web application|web apps]]. Another factor is the significant increase of [[broadband]] connectivity in [[List of sovereign states by number of broadband Internet subscriptions|many parts]] of the world, enabling people to access data-intensive content, such as [[Streaming media|streaming]] [[high-definition video|HD video]] on [[YouTube]], that was not possible during the era of [[Dial-up Internet access|dial-up modems]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Dial-Up Internet Today: Understanding Its Lasting Influence |url=https://simeononsecurity.com/articles/modem-magic_-how-dial-up-internet-works-and-its-legacy-today/ |website=SimeonOnSecurity |access-date=21 February 2024}}</ref>

As an extension of these facilities for creating web-based applications, web browsers started adding support for [[progressive web applications]] (PWAs) in 2016. The term progressive web application was coined by Google engineer Alex Russell in 2015.<ref name="infrequently.org">{{cite web|last1=Russell|first1=Alex|title=Progressive Web Apps: Escaping Tabs Without Losing Our Soul|date=15 June 2015 |url=https://infrequently.org/2015/06/progressive-apps-escaping-tabs-without-losing-our-soul/|access-date=June 15, 2015|ref=4}}</ref> PWAs have become a popular form of application that take advantage of modern web browser features but that can be installed and launched like a [[Native_(computing)#Applications|native]] application, can be used when the user's device is offline, and can be accessed without the user needing to enter the application's URL. PWAs offer automatic multi-platform support and smaller install sizes than native applications. The [[Apple]] [[iPhone]] added support for installable PWAs in 2018, and most major browsers support PWAs on desktop and mobile.<ref>{{cite web |website=web.dev |title=Progressive Web Apps|url=https://web.dev/learn/pwa/progressive-web-apps/ |access-date=23 March 2025|ref=3}}</ref>