The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a web browser as "a computer program used to access sites or information on a network (such as the World Wide Web)." This is a simple but accurate description. A web browser talks to a server and asks it for the pages you want to see.

The browser application retrieves (or fetches) code, usually written in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and other computer languages, from a web server. It then interprets this code and displays it as a web page that you can view. In most cases, user interaction is required to tell the browser what website or specific web page you want to view. This is done by using the browser's address bar.

The web address, or URL (Uniform Resource Locator), that you type in the address bar tells the browser where to get a page or pages. For example, if you type the URL http://www.lifewire.com in the address bar, you will be taken to the Lifewire home page.

The browser looks at this particular URL in two main sections. The first is the protocol, the http:// portion. HTTP, which stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol, is the standard protocol used to request and transfer files on the Internet, most web pages, and their respective components. Since the browser knows that the protocol is HTTP, it knows how to interpret anything to the right of the forward slashes.