Browsers

Browsers, often called Web browsers, are software clients that allow users to navigate to sites on the World Wide Web. The majority of these Web sites use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), but many browsers can also interpret other protocols, including FTP, RSS, and P2P protocols such as BitTorrent. Hypertext pioneer Tim Berners-Lee created the first ever Web browser, WorldWideWeb, in 1990, but the software didn't become popular until the release of NCSA Mosaic, the first graphical client.

Browsers truly hit the mainstream with the launch of Netscape Navigator, which was later shortened to simply Netscape, though the free software's popularity was radically affected by the 1995 release of Internet Explorer (IE), Microsoft's entry into the market. IE has dominated the Windows browser market since its release, only to be seriously challenged in recent years by Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Aside from general Web browsers, various subsets of software offer special services: Offline browsers cache content from the Internet for future reference when you're not connected to a network; Newsreaders and RSS Readers aggregate content from Usenet newsgroups and syndicated feeds.

The open-source browser Mozilla Firefox has long earned praise for the ability of third-party developers to easily create extensions that add functionality, and all of the major browsers have followed suit. Find specific sections for Firefox Add-ons & Plugins, IE Add-Ons, Chrome Extensions, and a miscellaneous category for Other Browser Add-ons & Plug-ins within the main Browsers section.