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If you've ever been curious about the process, or have ever wanted to know some of the specific mechanisms that allow you to surf the Internet, then read on. In this article, you will learn how Web servers bring pages into your home, school or office.
Chances are, you were sitting at a computer viewing a page in a browser. When you clicked on the link for a page, or typed in its URL ( uniform resource locator), what happened behind the scenes to bring this page onto your screen? The Basic Process:
Let's say that you are sitting at your computer, surfing the Web, and you get a call from a friend who says, "I just read a great article! Type in this URL and check it out. It's at http://www.GutzyWomen.com/Article13.html "
So you type that URL into your browser and press enter. And magically, no matter where in the world that URL lives, the page pops up on your screen. At the most basic level possible, the following diagram shows the steps that brought that page to your screen:
Your browser formed a connection to a Web server, requested a page, and received it.
Knowing exactly what a Web Browser is can help clarify what a Web Server is.
A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. Text and images on a Web page can contain hyperlinks to other Web pages at the same or different website. Web browsers allow a user to quickly and easily access information provided on many Web pages at many websites by traversing these links.
Web browsers communicate with Web servers primarily using HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) to fetch webpages.
HTTP allows Web browsers to submit information to Web servers as well as fetch Web pages from them. Some of the Web browsers available for personal computers include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Netscape. Web browsers are the most commonly used type of HTTP user agent. Although browsers are typically used to access the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access information provided by Web servers in private networks or content in file systems.
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