An Internet Browser

By default, the Internet browser language is regional; wherever you are in the world, your browser displays the language that is predominantly spoken there. However, some individuals speak languages in addition to their native tongue and prefer one over the other. To change the default language displayed in an Internet browser, make a selection from the list below and follow the instructions.

The highly customizable browser includes other intriguing features such as a built-in screenshot tool and a Night Mode that turns web pages black with white text to save your eyes during late night. Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla Firefox is an open-source internet browser and is popular with is more flexible functionality. It is the third most widely used browser after Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Firefox is an open-source browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The browser is available on most popular desktop and mobile computing platforms, including Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS and Android. Firefox began life as a branch of the Mozilla project. Your computer or mobile device uses a specific browser as the default. In Windows 10, that's Microsoft Edge. In Windows 8.1 and 7, it's Internet Explorer. On a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, the default is.

Google Chrome

1. Open the Google Chrome browser.
2. In the upper-right corner of the window, click the icon.
3. From the drop-down menu that appears, select Settings.
4. In the next window, scroll to the bottom and click the drop-down.
5. Scroll down to the Languages section and click the down arrow on the right side of the Language option.

6. In the menu that appears, click the link.
7. In the next screen, click the checkbox next to one or more language(s) (A), and then click the Add button (B).

8. Your newly selected languages should appear in the Language menu. To choose one, click the icon to the right of the language and check the box next to Display Google Chrome in this language.

9. You can click Relaunch or close and reopen your Chrome browser to display the new language.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open the Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. Click the icon in the upper-left corner of the browser window.
3. Select from the drop-down menu that appears.
4. Under the Languages and Appearance section, click the button.

5. In the window, click the arrow on the right side of the box (A) that says Select a language to add, and then click the button (B).

6. Click the newly selected language (A), and then click the OK button (B).

7. Restart your browser to display the new language.

Microsoft Edge

1. Open the Microsoft Edge browser.
2. Click the Settings and more icon in the upper-right corner of the browser window.
3. In the drop-down menu, near the bottom, select Settings.

4. On the left side of the screen, under Settings, click the Languages selector.

5. Under the Languages section, click the Add languages button.

6. In the prompt that appears, choose the language(s) you'd like the browser to display, and then click the Add button.

7. Back in the Languages section, locate your preferred language and click the icon on the right side. Then, check the box next to Display Microsoft Edge in this language.

8. Click the button or close and reopen the browser.

Microsoft Edge Legacy

Note

As Microsoft Edge Legacy is integrated into Windows 10, changing its default language affects some Windows programs as well.

1. Press the Windows key, type Regional & language settings, and press Enter.
2. In the window that appears, click the icon.

3. Type a language to add or select one from the list.

4. After you select a language, you are asked to pick a region.
5. You should now see the new language in the Languages section.
6. Click the new language and select the button.
7. In the window that opens, under Language options, click the button.
8. Once the new language is downloaded, return to the previous screen.
9. Click the new language again, and then click the Set as default button.

10. Log out and back in to Windows or restart your computer to display the new language.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer.
2. In the upper-right corner of the screen, click the icon.
3. Select Internet options from the drop-down menu that appears.

4. In the window that opens, under the General tab, click the button.
5. In the Language Preference window, click the button.
6. In the Language window that appears, near the middle, click Add a language.

7. Select a new language from the Add languages window, then click the button.
8. When you're taken back to the Languages window, click your new language. When it turns blue, click Options on the right side.

9. Select Download and install language pack.

10. Click Options again and then select Make this the primary language.

11. Log out and back into Windows or restart your computer to display the new language in Internet Explorer.

Safari

Safari is integrated into the macOS operating system. Consequently, you need to go into your Mac language settings to change the language displayed in Safari.

1. In the upper-left corner of the screen, click the Apple icon to open the Apple menu and choose System Preferences.

2. Click the Language and region icon in the System Preferences window.

3. In the Language & Region menu, under Preferred languages, click the + sign at the bottom.

4. In the drop-down menu, select a language, and then click the Add button.

5. You should be prompted to switch to the new language. If not, click-and-drag the new language to the top of the menu on the previous screen (shown in step 3).

6. Click the Restart Now button for the new language settings to take full effect.

Opera

1. Open the Opera browser.
2. In the upper-left corner of the screen, click the button.
3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
4. In the window that appears, on the left side, make sure Browser is selected.

5. In the Languages section, under Select user interface language, click the blue down arrow and select your preferred language.

6. The newly-selected language is displayed upon restarting the Opera browser.

Additional information

• See the cache and history definitions for further information about each of these terms.

Believe it or not, most people have little to no idea about the difference between a web browser and a search engine. If you do know the difference, congratulations, but for the others who don't, here are a few pointers to easily differentiate these two usually interchanged words.

• 2 Definitions

Summary Table

Web Browser	Search Engine
Does not require search engines	Requires web browsers
Access web pages and web sites	Searches and filters websites
Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc.	Google, Yahoo, Bing, NATE, DuckDuckGo, etc.
Application locally installed	Software system running on the Internet

Definitions

Web Browser

A web browser or browser is a software application used in retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources in the world of the Internet, known as the World Wide Web (WWW). It is a platform that people use to find any website via its URL. With that being said, a web browser is a program that can be installed locally on a computer device.

So how does it work? By using the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) or Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the browser takes the HTML (Hypertext markup language) code passed by the information resource and translates it into a web page, video, image or any other form of content.

Examples: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari and Opera.

Search Engine

A web search engine or search engine is also a software program, but unlike web browsers, it is not installed on your computer device but on the Internet. Judging by its name, you can already guess that the purpose of a search engine is to search. More specifically, it is used to search for websites based on keywords you enter. Results can include websites, images and videos.

So how does it work? Once a keyword is punched in, the search engine will go through millions and millions of bytes of information in its database to locate the desired content and display the results to the user via web browser.

Examples: Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, NATE and Naver.

Web Browser vs Search Engine

What's the difference between a web browser and a search engine?

By simply taking in the keywords of each word, in this case the words browser and search, you can immediately identify one major difference between the two. One is programmed to browse a webpage, and one is to search for a webpage.

One other notable difference is that while a web browser can exist without a search engine, a search engine needs a web browser to display its results. This simply means that a web browser is the basic element in accessing the Internet, whereas a search engine is to simply search for keywords in a search engine's database. In other words, you can't access any data without a web browser, but you can go to a certain website without the use of a search engine.

Regarding their capabilities, a web browser is there to display what a website might have to offer, but you can't simply search for that certain website by entering a keyword on a web browser's location bar. That's when a search engine comes in handy. If you don't know what site you're looking for, then just key in the word that you think relates to what you need, and hundreds or even millions of results will show up, depending on the keyword you entered.

Finally, a web browser is a software application that needs to be installed on a system. Search engines, on the other hand, do not require any installation on any system and are openly accessible to anyone through the use of a web browser.

Alternatively referred to as a web browser or Internet browser, a browser is a software program to present and explore content on the World Wide Web. These pieces of content, including pictures, videos, and web pages, are connected using hyperlinks and classified with URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). This page is an example of a web page that can be viewed using a browser.

There have been many different web browsers that have come and gone over the years. The first, named WorldWideWeb (later changed to Nexus), was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990. However, the first graphical browser and widely used browser that help bring popularity to the Internet was NCSA Mosaic.

List of current Internet browsers

Where can I download a different browser?

The following links open in a new window. Once downloaded, you'll need to open your download folder and start the install for the browser to be installed on your computer. If you need help finding the download, see: Where are the files I downloaded using my web browser?

Tip

As long as your computer meets the browser requirements, your computer can have more than one (or all) of the above browser installed.

What happens when you first open a browser?

When you first open your Internet browser, if you're connected to the Internet it loads your homepage or show a start screen with your favorite pages. Once open, you can browse the Internet by following hyperlinks or use a search engine to search for what you would like to find.

Note

If you changed your browser settings, it may also open the last opened web pages or all the tabs you had opened when it was last closed.

What is needed for a browser to work?

A browser needs a computer, smartphone, or tablet that meets the system requirements with a working Internet or intranet connection that allows it to connect to other computers. If there is no Internet connection, you'll get an error.

Why do I get errors in my browser?

While using the browser it may encounter many different errors. Typically you'll get an HTTP status code as an error. For example, while browsing you may get a 404 error, which indicates the page you're attempting to access no longer exists. See the following list for a full list of HTTP status error codes and their meanings.

Getting around in a browser

Each browser has a navigation toolbar that helps you find your way around the Internet. As seen in the images below, the navigation toolbar has undergone significant changes to streamline its appearance and functionality. However, the toolbar is likely never going to lose the navigation arrows and address bar.

Overview of browser bar buttons, menus, and functions

As we mentioned in the previous section, over time, many Internet browser buttons and options have either been moved or done away with completely. Consequently, some of the options mentioned below may not be immediately visible on your browser.

Tip

In certain browsers, pressing Alt on your keyboard shows hidden options.

Settings (menu)

Nearly all modern browsers today have moved advanced options and features in the upper-right or left corner of the browser window. Each browser's menu button is different:

For example, Internet Explorer uses (gear icon), Chrome uses (kebab menu), Firefox uses (hamburger menu), and Opera uses the icon.

Back

The back button visits the previous page that referred you to the page you are currently viewing. This button often resembles an arrow pointing to the left.

Forward

The forward button moves you forward a page. It only works if you have previously used the back button. If you have not gone back, and your browser shows a forward button, it will be grayed out.

Stop

The stop button no longer exists in the majority of modern web browsers. However, its function (to stop a web page from loading) may still be executed by pressing Esc.

Refresh (reload)

As you browse the Internet the browser cache's data it downloads, meaning they store some or all parts of each page you visit on your computer. This feature is useful as it allows users to not have to download the full page each time they visit the same site. On some sites, you may want to refresh the page to get the latest version (e.g., on a news site). The Refresh button can also be used to reload a page that has failed to load because of an error. Slack os linux.

Tip

Press the F5 or Ctrl+R to refresh the page from the keyboard. If the F5 key is not working, you can also do a force reload by pressing Ctrl+F5 in Windows or on an Apple computer press command+R.

Home

The Home button is used to return users to their default web page; the same page that loads when the browser is first opened.

Search

In the past, the Search button opened the default search page or execute a search on the text found in the address or URL text field. Today's browsers have what is called an omnibox, which is a search function built into the address bar.

Fullscreen

This function is used to make the browser window a fullscreen; temporarily removing the toolbar, buttons, and address bar. Often, this view mode may be toggled on and off by pressing the F11 on your keyboard.

History

This feature allows users to view the pages that have been visited since the browser history was last cleared or created. All your saved pages are stored in your Internet cache.

Tip

The shortcut key for history for most browsers is Ctrl+H.

Favorites (bookmarks)

This folder stores websites or pages chosen by the user. The term 'Favorites' is used with Microsoft Internet Explorer; in other browsers this may be known as bookmarks or a hotlist.

Print

This feature, although no longer a button and may be accessed through the main settings menu or pressing Ctrl+P on the keyboard.

An Internet Browser

Font (size)

This button no longer exists but was used to increase or decrease the size of a font; an option now covered by the zoom feature.

Zoom

Download An Internet Browser

On modern browsers, holding down Ctrl and pressing either the '+' (plus key) or '-' (minus key) zooms in or out, increasing and decreasing the size of font and images. To reset the zoom function to its default size, press Ctrl+0 (zero) at the same time.

Mail

Used to open a user's preferred e-mail program. Today, this option is no longer found in browsers.

Edit

Used to open and edit the web page you are currently viewing in an HTML editor. Today, no longer found in browsers.

Related browser pages

ActiveX, Address bar, BHO, Bookmark, Browse, Cookie, Cross-browser, Internet, Internet terms, Konqueror, Lynx, Mosaic, Netscape, Omnibox, Plug-In, SeaMonkey, Tabbed browsing, Web, Web design terms