Browsing
When browsing (of English browse around , look around ',' Browse ') is defined as navigating information of various kinds by hypermedia structures, for example in the World Wide Web . In the case of more complex content, a program is often used to display the information, which is intended to represent the data clearly. This program is commonly referred to as a browser .
Different variants of browsing are for example web browsing , code browsing , file browsing , also called file browsing , help browsing or text browsing .
Web browsing (internet browsing)
Mostly, browsing is understood as web browsing or Internet browsing . This describes the activity of navigating through one or more websites with a web browser . Colloquially, this is also known as " surfing ". The definition of web browsing basically includes viewing any website written in HTML or other web languages. This also applies to pages that are not available via the Internet, for example those that are on the local computer or are accessed via a local network. However, with general browsing it is by no means necessary to look at online content such as websites.
Code browsing
Another variant is code browsing , in which the source code of a computer program is clearly displayed (for example using UML diagrams) , usually with the help of an integrated development environment . In this way, the developer of a program can get an overview of the structure of the code and display the individual elements, such as classes or methods, graphically. In addition to syntax highlighting , this is another help for programmers, because the source code is easier to understand.
File browsing (file browsing)
File browsing , also known as file browsing , refers to searching through files and folders , for example on a data medium such as a hard drive. In most cases, the content of the files is not displayed, only their names. However, there are also file browsers with a preview function. In addition, the directory structure of a volume becomes visible, so that the user gets an overview of the data on his computer. Examples of file browsers (also known as file managers ) are Konqueror on Linux , Finder on Mac OS or Windows Explorer on Microsoft Windows (not to be confused with Internet Explorer , which is a web browser ).
Help browsing
With help browsing, the user searches through the help of software. Most programs offer a help function that is intended to provide advice and support to the user when using the program. In most cases, this is supplied in a platform-specific format that can then be displayed by the help browser of the respective operating system. Most help browsers include functions such as table of contents, index, and search. The table of contents shows the chapter structure of the help and thus offers the possibility of finding the desired content using a heading. In the index there are some keywords with references to articles on the topic. The search offers the possibility to find all articles for a certain search term immediately. Usually the help has to be indexed beforehand.
Text browsing
As text browsing refers to the reading of a text document, for example, using a word processing program . Most of the time, the functions for editing the text are deactivated when browsing through a text, since it is only a matter of reading. Some comfort functions such as zoom, displaying several pages at the same time, displaying and creating bookmarks or marking relevant text passages improve the user-friendliness and functionality of a text browser . Usually such text browsers are integrated in a word processing program in the form of preview functions.