144 PA R T 4 HOW THE WORLD WIDE WEB WORKS

C H A P T E R
How Web
18 Browsers Work
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LIKE much of the Internet, the World Wide Web operates on a client/server model. You run a web
client on your computer—called a web browser—such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Firefox. That
client contacts a web server and requests information or resources. The web server locates and then sends
the information to the web browser, which displays the results.
When web browsers contact servers, they’re asking to be sent pages built with Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML). Browsers interpret those pages and display them on your computer. They also can dis-
play applications, programs, animations, and similar material created with programming languages such as
Java and ActiveX, scripting languages such as JavaScript, and techniques such as AJAX.
Sometimes, home pages contain links to files the web browser can’t play or display, such as sound or ani-
mation files. In that case, you need a plug-in or a helper application. You configure your web browser or
operating system to use the helper application or plug-in whenever it encounters a sound, animation, or
other type of file the browser can’t run or play.
Over the years, web browsers have become increasingly sophisticated. Browsers are now full-blown soft-
ware suites that can do everything from videoconferencing to letting you create and publish HTML pages.
Browsers now also blur the line between your local computer and the Internet—in essence, they can make
your computer and the Internet function as a single computer system.
Increasingly, a browser is not just a single piece of software, but an entire suite. The newest version of
Internet Explorer, for example, includes security features such as an anti-phishing filter. The Firefox browser
has a companion piece of email software called Thunderbird that can be downloaded as well.
When browsing the Internet, one of the most frustrating experiences is the error messages browsers dis-
play when they’re having trouble contacting a website. Depending on which browser you use, and which
version of the browser you’re using, those messages might differ. Sometimes browsers display error messages
in plain English—but more often they don’t. The final illustration in this chapter lists the most common
browser error messages—and what they mean.
146 PA R T 4 HOW THE WORLD WIDE WEB WORKS

How a Web Browser

Works
1 Web browsers consist of client 2 A web browser displays information on your computer by
software that runs on your com- interpreting the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) that is
puter and displays home pages used to build home pages on the Web. Home pages usually
on the Web. There are clients display graphics, sound, and multimedia files, as well as
for a wide variety of devices, links to other pages, files that can be downloaded, and
including Windows, Macintosh,
other Internet resources.
and Unix computers.
 CHAPTER 18 HOW WEB BROWSERS WORK 147
Page Title

Background Color

Layer 1 3 The coding in the HTML files tells your browser how to dis-
play the text, graphics, links, and multimedia files on the
home page. The HTML file your browser loads to display the
home page doesn’t actually have the graphics, sound, multi-
media files, and other resources on it. Instead, it contains
HTML references to those graphics and files. Your browser
uses those references to find the files on the server and then
display them on the home page.

4 The web browser also interprets HTML tags as links to other

websites, or to other web resources, such as graphics, multi-
media files, newsgroups, or files to download. Depending on
the link, it performs different actions. For example, if the
HTML code specifies the link as another home page, the
browser retrieves the URL specified in the HTML file when
the user clicks the underlined link on the page. If the HTML
code specifies a file to be downloaded, the browser down-
loads the file to your computer.

Hyperlink

Web browsers can’t display some types of files on the Internet, notably
some kinds of multimedia files, such as sound, video, and animation
files. (A common file type like this is called Flash.) To view or play these
files, you need what is called a helper application or plug-in. You must
configure your web browser or operating system to launch these helper
applications and plug-ins whenever you click an object that needs them
to be viewed. More often than not, when you install the application or
plug-in, it will configure itself properly.

The meanings of tags are easily decipherable. Every HTML tag, or

instruction, is surrounded by a less-than and a greater-than sign—<P>.
Often tags appear in pairs, the beginning tag and the ending tag. They
are identical except for a simple slash in the ending tag. So, a paragraph
of text frequently is surrounded by tags such as this: <P> Paragraph of
text.</P>. Also, tags are not case sensitive. <P> equals <p>.
148 PA R T 4 HOW THE WORLD WIDE WEB WORKS

What Common Browser

Error Messages Mean
Server Does Not Have a DNS Entry—When
you type a URL in your browser to visit a
site, your computer contacts a server called
a Domain Name System (DNS) server. The
DNS server translates the URL into the IP
number that computers can understand—
DNS Server
and after it does that, your browser can go
to the site. (For more information about
DNS servers, see Chapter 5, “How Internet
Addresses and Domains Work.”) If you get
an error message telling you the server
doesn’t have a DNS entry, it means that the
server doesn’t have a listing for the URL you
typed. This usually means either you typed
the URL incorrectly or something is wrong
with the DNS server. Check the URL and
retype it.

503 Service Unavailable—This is a catch-all error

message for a variety of problems, but all of them
mean that the website is incapable of contact by your Web Server
browser. The problem might be the site’s server has
crashed because of too much traffic or there’s net-
work congestion.

403.9 Access Forbidden. Too Many Users Are

Connected—Some websites recognize that if
they get too much traffic at once, the entire site
can be brought down and no one will be able to
visit. Those sites put a limit on the number of
people who can come to the site at once—that
way, the site is always available, even if not
everyone who wants to visit can get in. If you get
this “Too Many Users Are Connected” message,
it usually means that the website is up and run-
ning, but you can’t get in because the maximum
number of people are already on the site. Keep
trying—when one person leaves, another can
Web Server come in, and it might be you.
 CHAPTER 18 HOW WEB BROWSERS WORK 149

404 Not Found—When you get

this message, you’ve arrived at
the correct website, but the
specific page you’re looking for
can’t be found. That specific
page might have been deleted
Web Server
from the site or moved—or you
might have typed the location
incorrectly.

Web Server

401 Unauthorized or 403 Forbidden—If

you get either of these error messages,
you’re trying to enter a website that
allows only certain people in—and it’s
not allowing you to enter. Typically, these
types of websites are password protected
and also might allow only visitors who
are from certain domains, such as
zd.com. If you’ve entered a password,
you might have entered it improperly, or
Firewall you might not be in a domain that’s
allowed to enter the website.

Spinning hourglass—This isn’t an

error message your browser dis-
plays—instead, your Windows
cursor turns into a spinning hour-
glass. The spinning hourglass tells
you that your browser is trying to
make a connection to a website. If
it keeps spinning and a connection
is never made, it can mean that an
Internet router someplace Router
between where you are and where
you’re trying to visit has crashed
and you can’t make the connec-
tion. It can also mean that you’ve
Web Server
lost your local Internet connection
for some reason.