Every single (even moderately successful) web browser’s logo has been round… Why?

The most obvious explanation is that Internet Explorer had a round logo and, considering it enjoyed a 95% market share in 2002, everyone else fell in line (Netscape switched to their round logo after IE had already made massive gains). Secondly, with the importance of putting forth a world wide web vibe it seems logical that you would end up with a bunch of globes.

But what about Internet Explorer itself? Why are the IE and NCSA Mosaic logos round? Was it on a designer’s whim? Considering these products were mostly if not entirely the work of engineers; it’s a bit more practical than that.

When NCSA Mosaic came out in the 90’s it was the first graphical web browser. With an accessible UI design, and killer features like icons, bookmarks and pictures, it’s what really kick-started the online information revolution. It had a

Links to the Browsers listed in this article: