Whether you are using a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, or a mobile device, the web browser plays a pivotal role in exploring the web and using interactive web applications. Since the inception of the World Wide Web (WWW) by Tim-Berners-Lee, web browsers have evolved significantly. The first web browser named WorldWideWeb was created by Tim-Berners-Lee in 1990. Since then, a lot of browsers came into existence to enhance the content support, interactiveness, and user experience.
In this article, we present the timeline of the evolution of web browsers. In this timeline we have included the popular ones leaving behind a plethora of web browsers that came and gone.
1. Several browsers were introduced in 1992
2. Erwise was the first browser with a Graphical User Interface (GUI)
3. As of 2022, the Lynx browser is still maintained
1. A browser with Graphical User Interface (GUI) 2. First to run on Windows and OS/2, developed by Thomas R. Bruce
1. First widely used web browser, co-developed by Marc Andreessen
2. Instrumental in popularizing the World Wide Web
3. Introduced multimedia in the browser
1. Free and open-source web browser from Mozilla Foundation
2. Uses Gecko rendering engine
3. As of 2022, Firefox is the fourth most popular browser and is available on all major platforms
1. Based on open-source software, developed by Apple
2. Uses WebKit rendering engine
3. As of 2022, Safari is the third most popular browser and is available on macOS and iOS
1. Cross-platform web browser developed by Google
2. Based on Chromium and uses Blink rendering engine (a fork of WebKit)
3. As of 2022, the most popular web browser across all platforms
4. The popularity of Chrome made Google to use the brand name Chrome in several other products such as ChromeOS, Chromecast, Chromebook etc.
1. Cross-platform Chromium based web browser developed by Microsoft. The Chromium based version was released in 2020.
2. Replaced Internet Explorer (IE)
3. As of 2022, Edge the second most popular web browser
4. Default web browser for Windows and Xbox
1. Free, open-source and cross-platform web browser developed by Vivaldi Technologies
2. Based on Chromium
3. Targeted towards technically-inclined users and former Opera browser users who miss Opera iconic features
1. Free, open-source and cross-platform web browser developed by Brave Software, Inc.
2. Based on Chromium
3. Privacy focused – automatically blocks advertisements and website trackers
As of 2022, here is the list of popular browsers in the popularity order:
- Google Chrome
- Microsoft Edge
- Apple Safari
- Mozilla Firefox
- Opera
The complete history of web browsers is available here. The complete timeline of web browsers is available here.
