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How does a web browser work?
Quick answer
A web browser turns code into the pages you see. It requests a site's files from a server, then reads the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build and display the page — handling layout, styling, and interactivity all in a fraction of a second.
Step by step
- It requests a website's files from a server.
- It reads HTML for structure and CSS for styling.
- It runs JavaScript for interactivity.
- It renders all of this into the page you see.
People also ask
How does a web browser work?
It fetches a site's files and interprets the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to render the page you see.
What is a rendering engine?
The part of a browser that turns code into the visual layout on screen, like Chrome's Blink.
Why do pages look the same across browsers?
Browsers follow shared web standards, though small differences in rendering can still occur.
Part of the guide: How the Internet Works →