How a web browser works for you

Almost everything you will do online starts in a web browser: reading news, banking, studying, sending email or watching a video. A browser is a program like any other, but it is also the doorway to the whole internet, so it pays to understand it. In this lesson you will learn what each part of the window does, how to move between pages quickly and how to keep the browser itself safe and up to date.

A browser is not a search engine

A Browser is a program installed on your computer that fetches web pages and shows them to you. Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are browsers. A search engine is a website that helps you find other websites, such as Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo. Many beginners mix them up and say they are going on Google when they mean the browser. The difference matters: if the browser breaks, you fix or reinstall the program; if a search gives poor results, you try different words or a different search engine.

Think of the browser as a car and the web as the road network. A search engine is a map service that tells you where to go. You can drive without asking the map service, if you already know the address.

Ubuntu 24.04 comes with Firefox. Windows 11 comes with Microsoft Edge. You can also install Chrome or others. All modern browsers work in the same way, and the keyboard shortcuts in this lesson work in all three unless a note says otherwise.

The parts of a browser window

• {{browser-tab|Tabs}}. Each tab holds one web page, like a sheet of paper in a ring binder. You can have many open and click between them. Ctrl+T opens a new tab, Ctrl+W closes the current one and Ctrl+Shift+T brings back the tab you just closed by mistake. Ctrl+Tab moves to the next tab.
• {{address-bar|Address bar}}. It shows the web address of the page you are on. You can click in it, or press Ctrl+L, to type somewhere new.
• Back, Forward and Reload. Back returns to the previous page, Forward goes the other way and Reload fetches the page again. If a page looks stuck or old, try Reload (F5 or Ctrl+R).
• {{bookmark|Bookmarks}}. A bookmark is a saved link to a page you want to find again. Press Ctrl+D to save the current page.
• Downloads. When you save a file from the web, the browser keeps a list of it. By default the file goes into your Downloads folder.
• Menu. The three lines or three dots at the right open settings, history, help and more.

Typing an address or searching

Most browsers use one box for two jobs. If you type something that looks like a web address, such as example.com, the browser goes straight to that site. If you type ordinary words, such as cheap bus tickets nairobi, the browser sends them to your default search engine and shows the results. If the browser guesses wrongly, check what you typed. A missing dot or a space can turn an address into a search.

What happens when you load a page

When you press Enter on an address, your browser does several jobs in a fraction of a second. First it needs the numeric IP address of the site, so it asks a DNS server to look up the name. Then it opens a secure connection (HTTPS) to the Web server at that address. It asks for the page, and the server sends back the page's HTML text. The browser reads that text and then asks for the other parts that the page needs, such as pictures and style files, and finally draws the page on your screen.

If any step fails, you see an error. The message This site can't be reached (Chrome and Edge) or Hmm. We're having trouble finding that site (Firefox) usually means the name could not be looked up. The cause is often a typing mistake, or your internet connection being down. A message about the connection not being private is a different problem, which the third lesson of this module explains.

Bookmarks and downloads in practice

To find a downloaded file, click the Downloads button on the toolbar, or press Ctrl+J in Edge and Chrome (Ctrl+Shift+Y in Firefox). The list shows each file and lets you open it or show the folder it is in. Before you open any file from the internet, ask yourself: did I mean to download this, and do I trust where it came from? Documents (PDF files) and pictures are usually safe from sources you trust. Programs and unexpected files need more care. Installing programs is covered in Module 8.