Computer Department

Internet browsers are the programmes that let you view pages on the world wide web, download music, upload files and a few more things besides. These 'other things' are mainly used by people like the military, universities and hackers. The most popular browsers are probably Internet Explorer, AOL Explorer and Firefox (Motzilla); but they are not the only ones. In fact, last time I had a browse around the web, I found over 30 different ones for the PC alone. Most of them are available free of charge, and you can discover their features on Wikipedia, the popular, free, online encyclopedia.

One problem with having lots of browsers to choose from is that they sometimes show web sites in different ways. They shouldn't as the rules of web design are laid down by www.w3c.com, but programmers just love to break the rules. The most popular browser of all, Internet Explorer (IE), also seems to break the most rules! This is one of the reasons that some people prefer Firefox over IE, but IE is also the standard that most web designers work to when designing their web sites. Good designers make sure that the sites they design work on all platforms - but time is money so this kind of 'tweaking' is often left undone.

It is possible to have more than one browser on your computer at the same time. Why not download two or three and see which is the best one for your needs? Make sure you read the blurb though; there are some text-only browsers, particularly good for blind/partially sighted users, but most surfers will want the extra pleasure that being able to see them brings.

A selection of the many available Internet browsers
Amaya	AOL Explorer	Avant
Dillo	Epiphany	Internet Explorer
Mozilla	Opera	Sea Monkey