Web Browser Engine

A web browser engine, (sometimes called layout engine or rendering engine), is a software component that takes marked up content (such as HTML, XML, image files, etc.) and formatting information (such as CSS, XSL, etc.) and displays the formatted content on the screen. It "paints" on the content area of a window, which is displayed on a monitor or a printer. A layout engine is typically embedded in web browsers, e-mail clients, e-book readers, on-line help systems or other applications that require the displaying (and editing) of web content. Engines may wait for all data to be received before rendering a page, or may begin rendering before all data is received. This can result in pages changing as more data is received, such as images being filled in or a flash of unstyled content if rendering begins before formatting information is received.