Web browser

A web browser is a software application that retrieves, renders, and displays documents from the World Wide Web. It is the universal client of the web — a program designed to interpret HTTP responses, render HTML, execute JavaScript, and display multimedia. The browser's universality was revolutionary: before the web, each information system required specialized software, but the browser created a single interface for all online content. Yet this universality masks a deep asymmetry: the browser displays what servers provide, and the server controls the data. The browser is the window; the server is the room. This asymmetry has shaped the web's political economy, concentrating power in those who control servers while distributing only the illusion of participation to those who merely browse.