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3 World-Wide Web Browsers

In order to access the World-Wide Web you will need to use a browser (or client). A wide range of clients are available for many different platforms: although the Mosaic client is very popular you should not think that Mosaic is the World-Wide Web.

Publicly Available Telnet Browsers

A number of browsers are publicly available which can be accessed using the telnet protocol. These include:

These browsers can be accessed by giving the command telnet address (for example telnet dir.mcc.ac.uk) In some cases you will automatically be logged in, in other cases you must enter a username (which is often lynx).

An example of the use of the telnet browser at the Radcliffe Science Library at Oxford University is illustrated in Figure 3-1.


telnet rsl.ox.ac.uk 

        Radcliffe Science Library & Bodleian Library WWW Server (p1 of 6)
 
     RADCLIFFE SCIENCE LIBRARY & BODLEIAN LIBRARY WWW SERVER
 
            UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
 
   [IMAGE]
 
Welcome! At present this WWW server is still feeling its way. This
page is intended primarily as a starting point for Oxford users
wishing to explore Internet services and information sources. From
this home page you can also access some of our Local WWW applications
which are for the most part still under development. For newcomers to
the Web, one good introduction is Entering the World-Wide-Web: A Guide
to Cyberspace by Kevin Hughes. Another is CERN's WWW FAQ (list of
Frequently Asked Questions).
 
Apologies to our regular Lynx users. We have phased out the old Lynx
opening page and you will now commence with this one. If you would
like to voice your opinions or your feelings, please feel free to use
the comments form below.
 
________________________________________________________________
-- press space for more, use arrow keys to move, '?' for help, 'q' to quit
Figure 3-1 The Client At Radcliffe Science Library.

It should be noted that the organisations running these publicly available clients do not guarantee to provide the service on a long term basis.

Email Readers

For users who do not have full Internet connectivity it is possible to retrieve files from WWW using electronic mail.

To use the service at the email address webmail@www.ucc.ie send the message GO url where url is the URL of the file you require. Note that, the turnaround time of this server seems to average about 1 week and this server only handles http urls (e.g. no FTP, etc.)

To use the service at the email address agora@w3.mail.org send the message send url to the address.

Text-Based Browsers

The browser illustrated in Figure 3-1 is a text-based browser (which is sometimes referred to as a command-line browser). Text-based clients run on a text-based operating system environment (e.g. DOS rather than Microsoft Windows, or Unix rather than X Windows). Command line clients place less demands on the local computer system, but do not provide the ease-of-use or range of functionality provided by graphical clients.

Lynx

The most widely-used text-based browser is probably Lynx. Lynx was developed at the University of Kansas, originally for Unix. An example of the Unix implementation is illustrated in Figure 3-1.

Lynx has been ported to the MS DOS environment. DosLynx, as the implementation is known, will run on a PC with 512 K of RAM, running MS DOS 3 or later. It provides access to the World-Wide Web from an entry level PC which has the appropriate networking capability. DosLynx is illustrated in Figure 3-2.


Figure 3-2 DOS Lynx.

Availability

The Lynx browser software is available at the URL ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/WWW/ In the UK it is also available at the URL ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/WWW/lynx

The DosLynx software is available at the URL ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/WWW/DosLynx/

Details of the system requirements for DosLynx are available at the URL ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/WWW/DosLynx/readme.htm A Listserv mailing list exists at the address DosLynx-Dev@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu for the distribution of DosLynx related information, updates and development discussions. To subscribe send an email request to listserv@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu to be added to the list. All new releases will be announced on this list.

NCSA Browsers

The NCSA Mosaic browser is available for the X Windows, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh environments.

NCSA Mosaic For X

Although it was not the first graphics browser, NCSA Mosaic For X helped to popularise the Web. At the time of writing version 2.4 is available, although a beta version of 2.5 is also available (which includes support for a number of new features including hierarchical hotlists).


Figure 3-3 NCSA Mosaic For X.

NCSA Mosaic For Windows and the Macintosh

If NCSA Mosaic For X helped to popularise the Web, NCSA Mosaic For Windows and for the Macintosh made it available to a much larger number of people.


Figure 3-4 NCSA Mosaic For Windows and the Macintosh.

Availability

The NCSA Mosaic browser software for the X, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms is available at the URL ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/pub/Web/ In the UK it is available at the URL ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/WWW/Mosaic/

Further information about NCSA Mosaic For Windows is available at the URL http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/WinMosaic/HomePage.html Further information about NCSA Mosaic For the Macintosh is available at the URL http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/MacMosaic/ Further information about NCSA Mosaic For X is available at the URL http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/XMosaic/

Cello Browser

Cello was one of the first WWW browsers to be developed for the Microsoft Windows environment. It was written by Thomas R Bruce of the Legal Information Institute, Cornell University.


Figure 3-5 The Cello Browser.

Availability

The Cello browser software for Microsoft Windows is available at the URL ftp://ftp.law.cornell.edu/pub/LII/Cello/

EINet Browsers

EINet have developed the WinWeb and MacWeb browsers for the PC and Apple Macintosh platforms.


Figure 3-6 The WinWeb and MacWeb Browsers.

Availability

The EINet browsers software for the X, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh environments are available at the URL ftp://ftp.einet.net/einet/

Netscape Browsers

Netscape Communications Corporation (MCOM) was set up by Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics. MCOM recruited the developers of NCSA Mosaic to develop a WWW browser. A beta release of Netscape was released in October 1994. It generated a tremendous amount of interest, because of its speed and functionality. However it also caused concern, since it included extensions to the HTML standard which had not been part of the HTML standardisation process.


Figure 3-7 The Netscape Browser for Windows and the Macintosh.

Availability

The Netscape browser for the X, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh environments is available at the URL ftp://ftp.mcom.com/ In the UK it is available at the URL ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/WWW/Netscape/ Further information is available from the URL http://home.mcom.com/home/welcome.html

Air Mosaic Browsers

Air Mosaic is another commercial browser which is based on the NCSA Mosaic source code.


Figure 3-8 The Air Mosaic Browser For Windows.

Availability

An evaluation copy of the Air Mosaic browser software for the X, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh environments is available at the URL ftp://ftp.spry.com/demo/ Further information is available at the URL http://www.spry.com/

GWHIS Browsers

GWHIS is a commercial WWW browser marketed by Quadralay. GWHIS (Global-Wide Help and Information System) consists of a WWW browser, an application program interface (API) for integrating GWHIS into applications and a search engine.


Figure 3-9 The GWIS Browser For X Windows.

Availability

An evaluation copy of the GWHIS browser software for the X, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh environments is available at the URL ftp://ftp.quadralay.com/pub/gwhis Further information is available at the URL http://www.quadralay.com/

Emissary Browser

New browsers which are being developed have increased functionality, such as providing integrated email, Usenet and file management capabilities in addition to WWW access. Emissary is an example of such a browser.


Figure 3-10 The Emissary Browser

Availability

Further information is available at the URL http://www.twg.com/emissary/emissnews.html

Other Browsers

Many other browsers are available or are currently being developed. Some of the browsers are aimed at the business community. Of particular interest to the academic community are the Internet browsers which are being developed by Microsoft (for inclusion with Windows 95), IBM, Apple and Novell.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer will be available for the Windows 95 platform.


Figure 3-11 The Internet Explorer Browser.

Future Developments

A browser known as Arena is currently being developed which will handle HTML 3. HTML 3 is a new version of HTML which contains a number of facilities which are not available in the current version (HTML 2) including table handling and mathematical formulae.


Figure 3-12 The Arena Browser.

Availability

Arena is currently a beta program. It can be obtained from the URL ftp://ftp.w3o.org/ In the UK it is available at the URL ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/cern/arena/

HotJava

The HotJava browser (developed by Sun) represents a new generation of browser technology. The HotJava browser is capable of downloading and executing programs written using an object-oriented language called Java, as well as rendering HTML documents.


Figure 3-13 The HotJava Browser.

Browser Validation

A validation suite for testing the functionality of browsers is being developed. Further information is available at the URL http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Test/

Figure 3-14 illustrates a browser validation service which is available at the URL http://www.uark.edu/~wrg/


Figure 3-14 A Browser Validation Service.

Further Information

A list of browsers is available at the URL http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Clients.html

Another list, which includes a brief summary of known bugs,XC is available at the URL http://www.hotwired.com/browsers.html

A third list is available at the URL http://www.charm.net/~web/Vlib/Users/Clients.html

A comparison of browsers is available at the URL http://www.osf.org/~kiniry/projects/web/browser_comparison.html

A browser tuneup for figuring out the particular quirks and oddities of browsers and may be useful for developers and consultants is available at the URL http://www.eit.com/goodies/tuneup/

A review of browsers is available at the URL http://www.cnet.com/Central/Features/Browser/

Conclusions

Which is the best browser? There is no longer a simple answer to this. The growth in the number of browsers, the different licensing arrangements and different areas they address is making it difficult to adopt an institutional policy on choosing a browser. At the time of writing the Netscape browser looks very attractive. However it was developed primarily to address the needs of commercial users, many of whom requested greater control over the appearance of HTML pages in order to reflect a corporate identity. Will Netscape, however, be as quick to support mathematical equations, which will be of interest to most academic institutes? Will it be the best browser for providing control over external applications - an area which is likely to be of interest to academics who wish to develop distributed teaching materials?

Perhaps the only conclusion to be made at this point is that academic institutions should avoid being locked in to a particular browser.

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