Some fundamentals of online genealogy -- What is a browser?

In teaching classes on family history research, I often find that the students lack even a basic knowledge of the online terminology. There seems to be a lack of understanding about even the most rudimentary computer terms. I found this interesting short video from Google that explains the concept of a "browser."



You might like to view it and then pass it along to a less sophisticated fellow genealogist.

If you are looking for a little more information about Web browsers, you might also want to check out the Timeline of web browsers.svg, A very small copy of which is reproduced above. Click on the photo to enlarge the view.

Probably the most difficult concept for the non-computer person is the difference between a program, like a browser, that runs on your computer and a search engine, like Google, that runs in the browser but is essentially all on the Internet. That is the main reason you can do a Google search in any browser, Internet Explorer, Firefox or whatever. It is also the reason why the Internet works on both Apple computers and PCs.