From Text to Images: The 1993 Launch of Mosaic, the Web’s First Graphical Browser

Mosaic was the browser that made the web mainstream. The World Wide Web, which appeared in 1991, initially contained only text and links. To use it, you had to install complex software available only on NeXT computers.

Programmers Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, working at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), created the Mosaic browser. Their goal was to make the web accessible to ordinary users, not just engineers and university researchers.

Key features of Mosaic

Unlike most text-based browsers of that time, Mosaic had a graphical interface. It introduced many elements that are now familiar:

• Back and Forward buttons
• page scrolling
• clickable links using a mouse
• menu
• an address bar

All of the above are now considered essential parts of a web browser, and Mosaic was the first place where they appeared together.

Mosaic also changed the web itself. It allowed developers to display images on web pages. Before that, web standards did not assume such functionality. Developers quickly began using this capability, making their pages more visually engaging.

In addition, Mosaic was cross-platform. It was released for Unix, Windows, and Macintosh. The developers considered this critical so that most computer users could experience the web.

See also How a Computer Error Delayed the First Space Shuttle Launch in 1981.