How does a browser work?
A browser is a client which connects the user to the webpages present on the web server. Without the existence of web browser we wouldn’t have been able to access things like today. The way browser performs operation is worth studying. Here we will learn how step by step what happens when you type www.google.com in the search bar.
STEP-1
Your PC/device is connected to the internet via the router present at your place. Once connected it will help you surf the web using protocols. Your personal PC is called the Client. Using the Client you can access files present on the Web server.
STEP-2
The User types in the URL in the browser. URL is Uniform Resource Locator. After typing the URL when the users approves it then the real work of the browser starts.
STEP-3
The URL is pushed as query. Then the query is processed and pushed to your ISP. The ISP has multiple servers which saves and stores data like Network Access Protection Server (NAP Server) and Domain Name Server (DNS) The browser looks up the IP address for the domain name you typed in the browser using DNS. DNS - DNS helps translates text-based URL which user enter in the search bar into number based IP address For Example - www.google.com gets converted to - 142.251.40.164
STEP-4
The browser then send a HTTP request to the server. It then requests a copy of the webpage using TCP/IP
- HTTP - Language Used for Internet Communication
- HTTPS - Secured Version of HTTP, All conversation between the browser and the server are encrypted
Once the Server approves the request, It will send a 200OK message directly to the client computer. Then the server will send in the webpage in the form of packets.
STEP-5
Once all packets are received then the browser re-assembles them and displays the web page. Then the work of the browser to load that one webpage from the web server is over.
The process on paper seems a bit lengthy but in real it’s super quick. The whole process happens in milliseconds that’s how fast our algorithm and protocols have evolved.