8. Browsers The core purpose of a web browser is to connect to web servers, request documents, and then properly format and display those documents.
9. Browsers Web browsers can also display files on your local computer, download files that are not meant to be displayed, and in some cases even allow you to send and retrieve email.
10. Browsers What the browser is best at, however, is dealing with retrieving and displaying web documents.
11. Browsers What the browser is best at, however, is dealing with retrieving and displaying web documents.
12. Browsers Each web page is a file written in a language called the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) that includes the text of the page, a description of its structure, and links to other documents, images, or other media.
13. Browsers The browser takes the information it gets from the web server and formats and displays it for your system.
14. Browsers Different browsers might format and display the same file in diverse ways, depending on the capabilities of that system and how the browser is configured.
15. Browsers Retrieving documents from the Web and formatting them for your system are the two tasks that make up the core of a browser’s functionality.
16. Browsers Depending on the browser you use and the features it includes, however, you also might be able to play Flash animations, multimedia files, run Java applets, read your mail, or use other advanced features that a particular browser offers.
23. Browsers Plug-ins such as the Flash player, QuickTime player, and others, are small helper programs (components) that extend the browser to support new functionality. Plug-ins are primarily a Netscape technology and have been around since Netscape Navigator 2.
24. Browsers They are supported by some other browsers, notably Opera. The embed element used to reference plug-ins is also supported under Internet Explorer, although it does result in the launch of an ActiveX control (a similar Microsoft technology).
25. Browsers Although plug-ins can go a long toward extending the possible capabilities of a browser, the technology does have its drawbacks. Users must locate and download plug-ins, install them, and occasionally even restart their browsers. Many users find this rather complicated.
26. Browsers Beginning with Netscape 4.x, some installation relief was found with somewhat self-installing plug-ins and other features, but plug-ins can still be occasionally troublesome for users.
27. Browsers To further combat this problem, many of the most commonly requested plug-ins, such as Flash, is being included as a standard with some browsers.
28. Browsers However, even if installation were not such a problem, plug-ins are not available for every machine; an executable program, or binary, must be created for each particular operating system.
29. Browsers Because of this machine-specific approach, many plug-ins work only on Windows-based systems.
30. Browsers A decreasing number of plug-ins work on Macintosh and even less on Linux or UNIX.
31. Browsers Finally, each plug-in installed on a system is a persistent extension to the browser, and takes up memory and disk space.
33. Browsers The benefit of plug-ins is that they can be well integrated into Web pages.
34. Browsers You include them by using the <embed> or <object> tag. Typically, the <embed> syntax is used, but the <object> syntax is the preferred method because it is part of the XHTML specification and will, therefore, validate.
42. Browsers Acid2 is a test page published and promoted by the Web Standards Project to expose web page rendering flaws in web browsers and other applications that render HTLM
43. Browsers Acid2 tests aspects of HTML markup, CSS 2.1 styling, PNG images, and data URIs.
44. Browsers The Acid2 test page will be displayed correctly in any application that follows the World Wide We Consortium and Internet Engineering Task Force specifications for these technologies.
45. Browsers These specifications are known as web standards because they describe how technologies used on the web are expected to function.
