I explained a web browser with a magazine stand, and told my mom to stop worrying about which one she has.
Browsers throw people off because they don't all look the same. In January 2018 I published the second video in my Teach My Mom series to fix that. A browser is a magazine stand for websites, and every one of them has a box at the top where you type where you want to go.
The business case
This isn't a business video, but the lesson behind it applies to any software you ever have to teach someone. People get used to one screen. Then they sit down at a different one and they're completely lost, even though it does the same job.
I didn't teach my mom one browser. I taught her the one thing they all share, the box at the top. If you're onboarding a customer or training someone on a new tool, find the part that stays the same everywhere and teach that first. The logos and colors can change around it.
The video is from 2018, so one detail has aged. Internet Explorer was the browser most Windows users saw back then, and it's retired now. I've noted that below.
A magazine stand at the mall
In the first video I compared the internet to a shopping mall. For this one I stayed at the mall. Picture a store with one of those spinning magazine stands out front. You pick up a magazine and look through it. Then you spin the stand, find another one, and spin it again.
What you're doing is browsing magazines. A browser lets you do the same thing with websites. Swap every magazine on that stand for a website, and the browser is the stand you spin. It lives on your computer, and it's how you flip from one site to the next.
The box at the top
To get to a website, you type its name into a box. On almost every browser, that box sits at the very top of the window. Type the address in, and the website comes up, the same way pulling a magazine off the rack puts it in your hands.
To go somewhere else, erase whatever is in that box and type a different address, say your bank's website. Each time you change the address, you land on a different site.
Jump to
- 0:00 Intro: a browser is like a magazine stand
- 1:48 Different Types of Browsers
- 4:00 Main Types of Computers
- 4:53 Internet Explorer
The full seven-minute version is on my channel: What is a Browser? Teach My Mom, on YouTube.
Why browsers look different
That box looks a little different depending on the computer and the browser, and that's what trips people up. Someone gets comfortable with one, then sees another, and they're completely thrown off.
Windows and Apple
There are two main kinds of computers. One runs Windows, made by Microsoft. The other is made by Apple. Each one comes with its own browser.
On a Windows computer in 2018, the one you'd most likely see was Internet Explorer, the icon that looks like an "e". Microsoft retired Internet Explorer in June 2022 and now points people to Microsoft Edge instead. If your parent's screen shows Edge, that's the one to teach.
Apple's browser is Safari. Its icon is a circle with a little compass in it, and you'll see it on iPhones too.
Chrome
There's a third one you'll run into, Chrome, made by Google. If you're new to computers, there's a good chance your son or daughter installed it for you. In 2018 it was the browser a lot of younger people preferred.
There are other browsers out there too. It doesn't matter much which one you use.
Every browser has the box
Whichever browser you open, there's a box at the top, and typing an address there takes you to a website. In the video I promised a deeper look inside an actual browser. The next post in the series covers searching.
If someone in your family keeps getting lost when the screen looks different, show them the box at the top. If you want to talk tech in plain language with other founders, join me live on Friday.
About Dwain
I'm Dwain Browne, Founder of LeadScore AI and SnapSuite. I'm a Toronto-based software architect with 25+ years across software, sales, operations and entrepreneurship. SnapSuite helps contractors and trades teams get paid faster, and LeadScore AI shows you which leads deserve your next call. I also run Vibe Code to Profit, a community helping people build software with AI.