JavaScript is a programming language that allows applications to send information back and forth between servers and browsers. Programmers can create a style sheet with certain attributes such as font style and color, and then apply those styles across several Web pages at once. CSS is a tool that gives programmers more options when tweaking a Web site's appearance.
The HTML language is a collection of markup tags programmers use on text files that tell Web browsers how to display the text file as a Web page. They can create a Web OS knowing that the vast majority of computer users will be able to access it without having to download additional software.ĪJAX technologies rely on hypertext markup language ( HTML), the JavaScript programming language, Cascading Style Sheets ( CSS) and eXtensible Markup Language ( XML). That makes Flash an attractive approach for many programmers. More than 98 percent of all computers connected to the Internet have a Flash player installed. With Flash-based programs like YouTube's video player, this means you can start watching a film clip without having to download it first.
What makes a Web OS tick? Keep reading to find out.įlash files stream over the Internet, which means the end user accessing the file doesn't have to wait for the entire file to download to his or her computer before accessing parts of it. Web operating systems offer users the benefit of accessibility - data isn't tied down to your computer. This means that you can access the Web OS on one computer, create a document, save the work and then access it again later using a completely different machine.
That is, you can do it as long as the device can run the Web operating software (whether that's a particular Web browser or client). Some Web operating systems also give you the option to save information to your local hard disk drive.īecause Web operating systems aren't tied to a specific computer or device, you can access Web applications and data from any device connected to the Internet. Instead, you save the information to databases connected to the Internet. When you save information in an application, you might not store it on your computer. The applications exist wholly or in part on Web servers within a particular provider network. A Web OS might look a lot like a traditional OS, but it doesn't manage your computer's hardware or software.Ī Web OS allows you to access applications stored not on your computer, but on the Web. But programmers design Web operating systems to look and act like a desktop OS. The user side of Web OS software, whether it's a Web browser or a system-specific client, runs on top of your computer's OS. Web operating systems can't replace your computer's native OS - in fact, they depend on traditional computer operating systems to work. They would run by accessing the processing power of your computer's central processing unit (CPU) by sending electronic requests to your computer's OS. The applications would exist on your computer's hard disk drive.
With traditional computer operating systems, you'd have to install applications to your own computer. Photo, video and audio editing programs.