what does a browser do?

[Christopher F]

Please give a simple answer in 50 words or less: what was it that the early browsers like Mosaic, later Navigator, did in the mid 1990s that hadn't been doable (or not so easily doable) before them? Why were they a big deal?
And no, this is not homework. Historical curiosity. I'm trying to get a handle on the 1990s dotcom boom. The IPO of Netscape seems to have set it off, and the issue of what a browser does exactly arises there.
And no, this is not homework. Historical curiosity. I'm trying to get a handle on the 1990s dotcom boom. The IPO of Netscape seems to have set it off, and the issue of what a browser does exactly arises there.