Opera 9 - it's good.
June 22, 2006 6:24 AM Subscribe
Opera version 9 - "The browser that everyone forgets about .. " has just been released - and it's good. Why should you care? Two suggested reasons [+ inside]
I use Opera. I feel like it's gradually getting slower than when I first started with it, but it's still my favorite. Can't make a 100% switch, though; google's apps aren't fully functioning in Opera, for one, and there are definitely a decent number of websites that don't render the same under Opera as they do under IE/Firefox. But to repeat, it's still my fav.
posted by inigo2 at 6:36 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by inigo2 at 6:36 AM on June 22, 2006
I'm an Opera user too, and mostly it works out great thanks to the little things like mouse gestures of that handy dandy trash bin. 'Course, certain sites like to screw up, like my uni website, my blog and annoyingly, Metafilter.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 6:39 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 6:39 AM on June 22, 2006
I've got to say this for them: that was the fasted download I've ever experienced--1 MB/sec!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 6:40 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by Turtles all the way down at 6:40 AM on June 22, 2006
You're happy using Firefox .... right? Here are two reasons to take a look at Opera 9.
1) Open the BBC News Homepage. Try making the text bigger and smaller (Ctrl ++ or Ctrl --). Notice how the text sizes but the images and column widths stay the same.
After a while the page looks silly.
I rarely if ever increase my text size. Sometimes I decrease it a touch, but not much.
2) Noticed those pop-ups recently? There's a lot to be said about flying under the radar, just look at IE.
Haven't noticed those pop-ups recently. What sites?
Two very different kinds of reasons to have a look. Your mileage will vary, but it's nice to know that there's a choice.
Yes it is. Mileage varies because our preferences vary wildly. The more applications out there, the better to fit the variety of users.
As a web developer, the more compliant browsers out there the better, as long as I don't have to worry about any quirks. As it is, I have to check pages in Firefox, Explorer, and Safari. I've found IE the most quirky (though forcing it into strict mode helps tremendously), Safari can be quirky here and there, and Firefox the least quirky of the bunch. It would be wonderful if they weren't quirky at all.
I love the extensions for Firefox. But to each their own.
posted by juiceCake at 6:45 AM on June 22, 2006
1) Open the BBC News Homepage. Try making the text bigger and smaller (Ctrl ++ or Ctrl --). Notice how the text sizes but the images and column widths stay the same.
After a while the page looks silly.
I rarely if ever increase my text size. Sometimes I decrease it a touch, but not much.
2) Noticed those pop-ups recently? There's a lot to be said about flying under the radar, just look at IE.
Haven't noticed those pop-ups recently. What sites?
Two very different kinds of reasons to have a look. Your mileage will vary, but it's nice to know that there's a choice.
Yes it is. Mileage varies because our preferences vary wildly. The more applications out there, the better to fit the variety of users.
As a web developer, the more compliant browsers out there the better, as long as I don't have to worry about any quirks. As it is, I have to check pages in Firefox, Explorer, and Safari. I've found IE the most quirky (though forcing it into strict mode helps tremendously), Safari can be quirky here and there, and Firefox the least quirky of the bunch. It would be wonderful if they weren't quirky at all.
I love the extensions for Firefox. But to each their own.
posted by juiceCake at 6:45 AM on June 22, 2006
I should add that Opera Mini is the browser for the mobile platform (previously discussed).
posted by grahamwell at 6:46 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by grahamwell at 6:46 AM on June 22, 2006
Opera gets a thumbs up from this Firefox user. Not because I like it — in fact I think it's a usability nightmare. Rather, because competition is always a Good Thing. Opera pushes Firefox to improve more than IE possibly can (even when you include IE7 on the way).
posted by Plutor at 6:48 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by Plutor at 6:48 AM on June 22, 2006
It's good, yes, it's good and it's fast, but it doesn't let me apply remote electric broadband shocks to the testicles of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to make them confess shit, and that deeply fucking disappoints me in the 21st century, I've got to say. Get with the program, Opera engineers! You've got a totally pre-9/11 mentality operating with your mouse gestures and your bittorrent and your glowing icons and your worthless javascripty gizmos and your goofy underslung infobars, and that's just not acceptable.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:49 AM on June 22, 2006 [2 favorites]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:49 AM on June 22, 2006 [2 favorites]
Easiest 3rd party software I've ever installed on Ubuntu Linux. Flash worked first time, it autodetected KDE, and the scaled zoom thing is fantastic too (I expect it to be ripped off by IE8 and Firefox 3 any minute now).
I'm amazed Opera Software has managed to survive, but I'm very glad it has.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 6:49 AM on June 22, 2006
I'm amazed Opera Software has managed to survive, but I'm very glad it has.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 6:49 AM on June 22, 2006
I also use Opera most of the time, largely for it's simplicity and speed - the program consistently loads way faster than firefox, and websites load noticebly faster also. And it's all properly integrated, doesn't consume vast amounts of memory, rarely crashes and Just Works.
For those of you not familiar with Opera's greatest feature - mouse gestures, that is manipulating tabs and pages with movement. They're real smooth, makes browsing the web a bit like how Tom Cruise works the computer in Minority Report. When I occasionally have to switch to firefox, browsing feels like driving with the handbrake on.
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:51 AM on June 22, 2006
For those of you not familiar with Opera's greatest feature - mouse gestures, that is manipulating tabs and pages with movement. They're real smooth, makes browsing the web a bit like how Tom Cruise works the computer in Minority Report. When I occasionally have to switch to firefox, browsing feels like driving with the handbrake on.
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:51 AM on June 22, 2006
I rarely if ever increase my text size.
I'll hazard that you don't do it because the results are not very pleasing. The BBC News website is a good example. It's designed for monitors that are 800 wide (it could be worse, it used to be 640). Correct me if I'm wrong but there's no way in Firefox or IE of scaling the page to fit 1024, 1280 or beyond without screwing up the whole look of the page.
Try it in Opera and you will see (I hope) why you might want to do this a lot more often.
posted by grahamwell at 6:52 AM on June 22, 2006
I'll hazard that you don't do it because the results are not very pleasing. The BBC News website is a good example. It's designed for monitors that are 800 wide (it could be worse, it used to be 640). Correct me if I'm wrong but there's no way in Firefox or IE of scaling the page to fit 1024, 1280 or beyond without screwing up the whole look of the page.
Try it in Opera and you will see (I hope) why you might want to do this a lot more often.
posted by grahamwell at 6:52 AM on June 22, 2006
Another pair of thumbs up for Opera from me. The one-key image and CSS toggles are great for dialup users who want just the Lynx experience without having to open up a command line window, and they've cut back on feature bloat, making it possible (with a bit of preference tweaking) to use Opera as a lightweight browser completely free of toolbar/appsuite cruft.
posted by brownpau at 6:58 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by brownpau at 6:58 AM on June 22, 2006
Here's a decent review of some of the goodness of Opera 9.
Plutor: Opera gets a thumbs up from this Firefox user. Not because I like it — in fact I think it's a usability nightmare
In what way? seems pretty damned usable to me.
hoverboards don't work on water: I'm amazed Opera Software has managed to survive, but I'm very glad it has.
Likewise - not only do I get to root for the open-source underdog, Firefox, but the plucky outsider with the wacky new-fangled ideas too! The browser wars have been good to us thus far. Except for all that standards business.
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:58 AM on June 22, 2006 [1 favorite]
Plutor: Opera gets a thumbs up from this Firefox user. Not because I like it — in fact I think it's a usability nightmare
In what way? seems pretty damned usable to me.
hoverboards don't work on water: I'm amazed Opera Software has managed to survive, but I'm very glad it has.
Likewise - not only do I get to root for the open-source underdog, Firefox, but the plucky outsider with the wacky new-fangled ideas too! The browser wars have been good to us thus far. Except for all that standards business.
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:58 AM on June 22, 2006 [1 favorite]
The BBC News website is a good example. It's designed for monitors that are 800 wide
That is a neat trick, but I can already read the page fine with its current font size. And Opera's "zoom in on the page" trick makes it WAY too big.
Oh, and that "launch party" animation on Opera's main page just seem way, way too over the top cheesy? I really hope they're trying to be ironic with that.
However, I'm going to give Opera 9 a chance. Is there a bloglines plugin for it? Gmail? If not, then I have no use for it.
posted by antifuse at 7:02 AM on June 22, 2006
That is a neat trick, but I can already read the page fine with its current font size. And Opera's "zoom in on the page" trick makes it WAY too big.
Oh, and that "launch party" animation on Opera's main page just seem way, way too over the top cheesy? I really hope they're trying to be ironic with that.
However, I'm going to give Opera 9 a chance. Is there a bloglines plugin for it? Gmail? If not, then I have no use for it.
posted by antifuse at 7:02 AM on June 22, 2006
- Thumbnail window previews when hovering over tabs: brilliant.
- Built-in BitTorrent: futuristic.
- Hundreds of skins to choose from: personalised.
- Fastest fully-featured browser: slick.
- Keyboard shortcuts for everything and integrated mouse-gestures: powerful.
- Close the brower, open the browser - all your open sites are still there: useful.
- Pre-required adoption of the Eolas ActiveX workaround: smart.
- Seamless update from version 8: ideal.
- Field-leading web standards compliance: nerdy/responsible.
- Changing Ctrl-N to open new windows not tabs: change it back you fuc**ng fuc**rs. Now! Damn it! Put it back! Bas**rds!
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:07 AM on June 22, 2006
Also: how do I move the tab bar below the address bar?
posted by antifuse at 7:09 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by antifuse at 7:09 AM on June 22, 2006
Very nice, but without an adblocker and script blocker it's not much use. Google Maps didn't seem to work either.
posted by salmacis at 7:09 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by salmacis at 7:09 AM on June 22, 2006
"Is there a bloglines plugin for it? Gmail? If not, then I have no use for it."
Well, if that's what you use the internet for, I can honestly tell you that there's no reason to use Opera. Sorry they let you down again.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:10 AM on June 22, 2006
Well, if that's what you use the internet for, I can honestly tell you that there's no reason to use Opera. Sorry they let you down again.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:10 AM on June 22, 2006
i was looking for the source code on their site and couldn't find it. would you please direct me to it?
posted by 3.2.3 at 7:12 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by 3.2.3 at 7:12 AM on June 22, 2006
Haven't noticed those pop-ups recently. What sites?
There's a few sites that are getting past FF's popup blocking these days. Dictionary.com is one of them (unforfunatley I have to use Wind'ohs at work, so I don't have the luxury of an OS-level dictionary). I've probably surfed into half a dozen or so sites this week that have managed to bypass FF's popup blocking.
posted by TheDonF at 7:13 AM on June 22, 2006
There's a few sites that are getting past FF's popup blocking these days. Dictionary.com is one of them (unforfunatley I have to use Wind'ohs at work, so I don't have the luxury of an OS-level dictionary). I've probably surfed into half a dozen or so sites this week that have managed to bypass FF's popup blocking.
posted by TheDonF at 7:13 AM on June 22, 2006
There's a few sites that are getting past FF's popup blocking these days. Dictionary.com is one of them
Hrmm, I don't see any popups getting through there. Is it because I use the flashblocker plugin? The only popups I've seen sneaking through ffox are the ones where they are blocked initially by ffox, but then when you click ANYWHERE in the page it pops up the popup (not sure if this is a ffox bug, or just sneaky javascript that pops the ad up once you click on the page).
posted by antifuse at 7:19 AM on June 22, 2006
Hrmm, I don't see any popups getting through there. Is it because I use the flashblocker plugin? The only popups I've seen sneaking through ffox are the ones where they are blocked initially by ffox, but then when you click ANYWHERE in the page it pops up the popup (not sure if this is a ffox bug, or just sneaky javascript that pops the ad up once you click on the page).
posted by antifuse at 7:19 AM on June 22, 2006
antifuse: you can put the tabs at the bottom of the page, but I don't think you can swap address and tab bars around. I agree, they could have made it drag-and-droppable.
salmacis: You can disable javascript, Flash, cookies etc. on a site-by-site basis if you need. Also Google maps has never been a problem for me since version 8 came out. What are you trying to do with it? (maye something I've never been able to do because I use Opera: true)
3.2.3: It's not an open source browser. They let you have it for free, but you can't have the source.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:19 AM on June 22, 2006
salmacis: You can disable javascript, Flash, cookies etc. on a site-by-site basis if you need. Also Google maps has never been a problem for me since version 8 came out. What are you trying to do with it? (maye something I've never been able to do because I use Opera: true)
3.2.3: It's not an open source browser. They let you have it for free, but you can't have the source.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:19 AM on June 22, 2006
change it back you fuc**ng fuc**rs. Now! Damn it! Put it back! Bas**rds!
Looks like Opera censors your cuss words for you. Fuck that shit; I'll stick with my goddamned Firefox.
posted by Zozo at 7:21 AM on June 22, 2006
Looks like Opera censors your cuss words for you. Fuck that shit; I'll stick with my goddamned Firefox.
posted by Zozo at 7:21 AM on June 22, 2006
salmacis, in case you missed it, adblocking is there. Have a look at 'Content Blocking' in the help file. It's a major feature. Google Maps works for me.
i was looking for the source code ... . Yeah, funny. There's a downside though to having your innards open to all - my second point above.
posted by grahamwell at 7:23 AM on June 22, 2006
i was looking for the source code ... . Yeah, funny. There's a downside though to having your innards open to all - my second point above.
posted by grahamwell at 7:23 AM on June 22, 2006
Hrmm, I don't see any popups getting through there. Is it because I use the flashblocker plugin?
Nah - I've got that as well. Weird, it's happened to me several times on that site.
posted by TheDonF at 7:26 AM on June 22, 2006
Nah - I've got that as well. Weird, it's happened to me several times on that site.
posted by TheDonF at 7:26 AM on June 22, 2006
You can disable javascript, Flash, cookies etc. on a site-by-site basis if you need.
Which is the bare minimum I would expect. Adblock and NoScript it ain't. I've not had any pop ups at all with Firefox - I think NoScript is stopping them. I was getting assailed by websites asking me to fill in a survey until I installed it.
Also Google maps has never been a problem for me since version 8 came out. What are you trying to do with it? (maye something I've never been able to do because I use Opera: true)
What am I trying to do in Google Maps? Display a sodding map.
posted by salmacis at 7:27 AM on June 22, 2006
Which is the bare minimum I would expect. Adblock and NoScript it ain't. I've not had any pop ups at all with Firefox - I think NoScript is stopping them. I was getting assailed by websites asking me to fill in a survey until I installed it.
Also Google maps has never been a problem for me since version 8 came out. What are you trying to do with it? (maye something I've never been able to do because I use Opera: true)
What am I trying to do in Google Maps? Display a sodding map.
posted by salmacis at 7:27 AM on June 22, 2006
Have they fixed the defaults such that you don't have to spend about an hour screwing with the hideously-designed preferences to get Opera to work vaguely like a conventional browser? The last time I tried it, I spent more time fumbling around in the options trying to get the UI to be rational than I did browsing.
It's a shame they wrapped such a blazing fast (if not always perfectly compatible) rendering engine in a user interface nightmare. Opera without all the bling would be a pretty decent application!
posted by majick at 7:28 AM on June 22, 2006
It's a shame they wrapped such a blazing fast (if not always perfectly compatible) rendering engine in a user interface nightmare. Opera without all the bling would be a pretty decent application!
posted by majick at 7:28 AM on June 22, 2006
I just installed it at work (on a mac) and like it enough that I'll be trying it on my linux and xp boxes. But I had to open Safari to post this because after logging in to MeFi in Opera and entering a thread, I find myself no longer logged in. What gives?
posted by Grod at 7:32 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by Grod at 7:32 AM on June 22, 2006
i was looking for the source code on their site and couldn't find it. would you please direct me to it?
I'm sure some enterprising thief has cracked their servers and stolen the source code. Try using the built-in BitTorrent search; Opera seems to approve of such things.
There's a downside though to having your innards open to all - my second point above.
Firefox may now be a target, but that's due to its market share, not its opened source.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 7:35 AM on June 22, 2006
I'm sure some enterprising thief has cracked their servers and stolen the source code. Try using the built-in BitTorrent search; Opera seems to approve of such things.
There's a downside though to having your innards open to all - my second point above.
Firefox may now be a target, but that's due to its market share, not its opened source.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 7:35 AM on June 22, 2006
"NoScript it ain't"
Having just read up on NoScript, that sounds exactly the same. Simply disable Java and javascript in the main preferences and enable them for the sites you wish.
As for AdBlock, that works on a system of ISO standard advert dimensions - if a Flash movie matches the dimensions it gets culled. It's a clever piece of software, and it would be a good addition to any browser, including Opera. If it hasn't already been brought up in the forums I might well do that.
And concluding with Google's fine wares, I think your machine may be sick - you're finding problems no one else has. I use GMail daily and I use maps to guide my girlfriend street-by-street through London in realtime over the phone.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:44 AM on June 22, 2006
Having just read up on NoScript, that sounds exactly the same. Simply disable Java and javascript in the main preferences and enable them for the sites you wish.
As for AdBlock, that works on a system of ISO standard advert dimensions - if a Flash movie matches the dimensions it gets culled. It's a clever piece of software, and it would be a good addition to any browser, including Opera. If it hasn't already been brought up in the forums I might well do that.
And concluding with Google's fine wares, I think your machine may be sick - you're finding problems no one else has. I use GMail daily and I use maps to guide my girlfriend street-by-street through London in realtime over the phone.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:44 AM on June 22, 2006
I like it, I like it a lot, but there are two things that made me switch my default browser back to Safari:
posted by revgeorge at 7:44 AM on June 22, 2006
- It's ugly as sin, and I couldn't find any skins that made it look like a normal OS X 10.4 app. I found a few that approximated OS X 10.1 pretty well, but that looks a little dated these days.
- I don't want to look up all my passwords in Keychain and enter them again. Why can't Wand check to see if Keychain has a login for the site?
posted by revgeorge at 7:44 AM on June 22, 2006
What turned me off on Opera is that it's only available bundled with Macromedia Flash, and I hate hate hate Flash. Sites load much faster without it, and I'm willing to blow off the handful of sites that insist on programming in Flash instead of html.
Firefox, customized with a handful of plug-ins, does everything Opera does, so I don't see any reason to download a new browser.
posted by Jatayu das at 7:45 AM on June 22, 2006
Firefox, customized with a handful of plug-ins, does everything Opera does, so I don't see any reason to download a new browser.
posted by Jatayu das at 7:45 AM on June 22, 2006
Having just read up on NoScript, that sounds exactly the same. Simply disable Java and javascript in the main preferences and enable them for the sites you wish.
What? There's a button somewhere I can press which will list all the sites trying to execute scripts, and I can selectively choose to allow which sites are allowed? Where is it?
And I can't get the adblocker to work anything like as well as the AdBlock extension.
posted by salmacis at 7:55 AM on June 22, 2006
What? There's a button somewhere I can press which will list all the sites trying to execute scripts, and I can selectively choose to allow which sites are allowed? Where is it?
And I can't get the adblocker to work anything like as well as the AdBlock extension.
posted by salmacis at 7:55 AM on June 22, 2006
Interesting comments on the user interface. They suggest to me that expectations are so elaborate and yet fractured that it's impossible to please everyone and there are no meaningful standards anymore (look at Media Player 11 - or Vista for that matter). Perhaps it was always so. Personally I think the UI is rather good, and the LikeIE skin is an excellent fit with Vista (much better than anything for Firefox).
The problem with Opera is that there are no extensions - at least not yet, but worse - there doesn't seem to be a mechanism for developing them. This puts the Opera writers in the impossible position of trying to reproduce every quirky feature of the extensions jungle, something that can't be done. It needs to be opened up to third-parties. Let a thousand flowers bloom.
posted by grahamwell at 8:00 AM on June 22, 2006
The problem with Opera is that there are no extensions - at least not yet, but worse - there doesn't seem to be a mechanism for developing them. This puts the Opera writers in the impossible position of trying to reproduce every quirky feature of the extensions jungle, something that can't be done. It needs to be opened up to third-parties. Let a thousand flowers bloom.
posted by grahamwell at 8:00 AM on June 22, 2006
What? There's a button somewhere I can press which will list all the sites trying to execute scripts, and I can selectively choose to allow which sites are allowed? Where is it?
Well, sort of. Right-click anywhere on the web page, and pick "Edit Site Preferences." You can turn on scripting for the site in question there.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:00 AM on June 22, 2006
Well, sort of. Right-click anywhere on the web page, and pick "Edit Site Preferences." You can turn on scripting for the site in question there.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:00 AM on June 22, 2006
I like opera, but damn, its got some hipsters on its front page.
posted by 517 at 8:05 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by 517 at 8:05 AM on June 22, 2006
I'm looking forward to Opera for the Nintendo DS, I hope it's fully functional, that would be a treat for DS nerds.
That Release Party animation is awful though.
posted by clunkyrobot at 8:06 AM on June 22, 2006
That Release Party animation is awful though.
posted by clunkyrobot at 8:06 AM on June 22, 2006
salmacis: just checking the forums and content blocking has been added to this version. Right-click on a page and select "Blcok content", you can then select the items you don't want to appear. It's not as universally capable as AdBlock, but it's a start.
Back to NoScript again, if you select "Tools" on the command bar and select "Preferences" you can go to the "Advanced" tab and view all of you per-site settings, applying to cookies, scripting, Java, plugins and so on.
It's odd how violently reactive you are to this, although if you're pulling up problems with Google apps I suppose it would give you a poor impression. I hope you may uninstall this version and try again when the inevitable update appears ina month's time.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 8:07 AM on June 22, 2006
Back to NoScript again, if you select "Tools" on the command bar and select "Preferences" you can go to the "Advanced" tab and view all of you per-site settings, applying to cookies, scripting, Java, plugins and so on.
It's odd how violently reactive you are to this, although if you're pulling up problems with Google apps I suppose it would give you a poor impression. I hope you may uninstall this version and try again when the inevitable update appears ina month's time.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 8:07 AM on June 22, 2006
grahamwell: The problem with Opera is that there are no extensions - at least not yet, but worse - there doesn't seem to be a mechanism for developing them.
Not sure what you mean by "a mechanism." Check out userjs.org.
salmacis: And I can't get the adblocker to work anything like as well as the AdBlock extension.
I haven't yet found anything as sophisticated as Firefox's AdBlock that works with Opera, either.
I am pleased with the Hide Objects Until Clicked script, though, which hides the most annoying stuff.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:10 AM on June 22, 2006
Not sure what you mean by "a mechanism." Check out userjs.org.
salmacis: And I can't get the adblocker to work anything like as well as the AdBlock extension.
I haven't yet found anything as sophisticated as Firefox's AdBlock that works with Opera, either.
I am pleased with the Hide Objects Until Clicked script, though, which hides the most annoying stuff.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:10 AM on June 22, 2006
I like opera, but there's a couple of things I noticed in this thread:
1. You can get rid of any popups in Firefox with the about:config screen.
2. IE7 has been doing the full page zoom since the first beta, so it's not just Opera that has it.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:13 AM on June 22, 2006
1. You can get rid of any popups in Firefox with the about:config screen.
2. IE7 has been doing the full page zoom since the first beta, so it's not just Opera that has it.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:13 AM on June 22, 2006
Very nice, but without an adblocker and script blocker it's not much use.
Addblock is included, as is the ability to block javascipt on a site-by-site basis.
Google Maps works for me, just a tad sluggish, had no problems with gmail either.
Which is the bare minimum I would expect. Adblock and NoScript it ain't.
In which case, Firefox doesn't meet the bare minimum either, not without 3rd party extensions.
Which is I think one of the key differences between Opera and Firefox. The Firefox design team has taken the view that it's just a browser and additional features such as addblock, noscript, mouegestures and spellcheck are to be supplied by 3rd-party developers. Opera bundles some of this fuctionality with the browser's default install.
If you like extensions, and prefer the functionality of the extensions you have, go with Firefox. Personally, I'm not a big fan of extensions because I've had problems with stabilbity, quality and upgrading. For that matter, I've often been frustrated with the stability and quality of OS X Firefox versions.
And of course, sites that are designed to be IE/Firefox specific are going to have problems.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 8:19 AM on June 22, 2006
Addblock is included, as is the ability to block javascipt on a site-by-site basis.
Google Maps works for me, just a tad sluggish, had no problems with gmail either.
Which is the bare minimum I would expect. Adblock and NoScript it ain't.
In which case, Firefox doesn't meet the bare minimum either, not without 3rd party extensions.
Which is I think one of the key differences between Opera and Firefox. The Firefox design team has taken the view that it's just a browser and additional features such as addblock, noscript, mouegestures and spellcheck are to be supplied by 3rd-party developers. Opera bundles some of this fuctionality with the browser's default install.
If you like extensions, and prefer the functionality of the extensions you have, go with Firefox. Personally, I'm not a big fan of extensions because I've had problems with stabilbity, quality and upgrading. For that matter, I've often been frustrated with the stability and quality of OS X Firefox versions.
And of course, sites that are designed to be IE/Firefox specific are going to have problems.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 8:19 AM on June 22, 2006
There doesn't seem to be an FPP yet about MS IE 7. Since I don't use Windows, I haven't tried it. It looks like it's tryng to compete. Anyone give a shit about Microsoft anymore?
Opera was always a very zippy browser. But not enough sites worked with it for me to bother. Safari gives me the same headaches, and it is also slooooooooow. Since IE stopped developing for Mac, I stopped using it. But I always hated it, and every once in a while when I have to use it (at least v. 6) on a PC I am underwhelmed. Firefox has grown so big for a reason. It is fast, secure, and it works almost all the time. You'd have to really impress the heck out of me to convince me to switch at the moment.
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:21 AM on June 22, 2006
Opera was always a very zippy browser. But not enough sites worked with it for me to bother. Safari gives me the same headaches, and it is also slooooooooow. Since IE stopped developing for Mac, I stopped using it. But I always hated it, and every once in a while when I have to use it (at least v. 6) on a PC I am underwhelmed. Firefox has grown so big for a reason. It is fast, secure, and it works almost all the time. You'd have to really impress the heck out of me to convince me to switch at the moment.
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:21 AM on June 22, 2006
It's odd how violently reactive you are to this, although if you're pulling up problems with Google apps I suppose it would give you a poor impression. I hope you may uninstall this version and try again when the inevitable update appears ina month's time.
I'm not violently reactive to this. It's just that any time I point out flaws with Opera when compared to Firefox, the supposed fixes or workarounds are nothing of the sort.
Version 9 is an improvement on 8 I can see that. I like it's speed. But it really is a useability nightmare. Go to the fonts menu, and tell me how I can set up my fonts in less than 30 minutes. Any other browser, you select a Sans Serif font, a Serif Font and a monospace font, and a point size. Opera requires you to set a font for every single possibility!
posted by salmacis at 8:23 AM on June 22, 2006
I'm not violently reactive to this. It's just that any time I point out flaws with Opera when compared to Firefox, the supposed fixes or workarounds are nothing of the sort.
Version 9 is an improvement on 8 I can see that. I like it's speed. But it really is a useability nightmare. Go to the fonts menu, and tell me how I can set up my fonts in less than 30 minutes. Any other browser, you select a Sans Serif font, a Serif Font and a monospace font, and a point size. Opera requires you to set a font for every single possibility!
posted by salmacis at 8:23 AM on June 22, 2006
I also try to run relatively extension-free. I want website designers to integrate functionality on the server side. I want my client browser to run lean and simple. But I appreciate the extensibility of Firefox.
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:23 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:23 AM on June 22, 2006
And gee, I've been totally impressed with Firefox's OS X builds. Not a single complaint.
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:25 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:25 AM on June 22, 2006
I haven't downloaded the new version yet, but Google Maps and GMail (apart from the chat function) work just fine on Opera 8. Google Calendar on the other side, not so much.
posted by cerbous at 8:31 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by cerbous at 8:31 AM on June 22, 2006
I'm a long-time opera user and I could not imagine using anything else. The new widgets are fantastic, I've got three permanently on my desktop.
On a smaller note, mefi Live Preview is no longer bugged in opera in this version either. Yay!
posted by nightchrome at 8:42 AM on June 22, 2006
On a smaller note, mefi Live Preview is no longer bugged in opera in this version either. Yay!
posted by nightchrome at 8:42 AM on June 22, 2006
I stopped using Opera somewhere around 7 and opted for Firefox instead. Firefox's extensions are what sold me. Way up above metamonkey mentioned his love of mouse gestures. Well, there's a firefox extension that does the exact same thing. I can't live without it.
There are also extensions for saving all of your tabs when you close the program, bit torrent clients, etc. With some searching and tweaking you can give Firefox the usability of Opera and it can run google apps.
posted by ztdavis at 8:44 AM on June 22, 2006
There are also extensions for saving all of your tabs when you close the program, bit torrent clients, etc. With some searching and tweaking you can give Firefox the usability of Opera and it can run google apps.
posted by ztdavis at 8:44 AM on June 22, 2006
I guess I spoke too soon. KirkJobSluder's link explains how to use the O9 content blocker. (Opera's documentation has always left something to be desired, IMHO.) Looks like it's even better than AdBlock, if you're into blocking ads.
salmacis: Opera requires you to set a font for every single possibility!
Hey, with great power comes great responsibility.
Seriously, what would be the point of having yet another browser that works exactly like all the others? In this case, Opera gives you more choices and control, with the tradeoff that you have to make more choices. That tradeoff may not be to your taste, but it's hardly an automatic "usability nightmare."
posted by Western Infidels at 8:52 AM on June 22, 2006
salmacis: Opera requires you to set a font for every single possibility!
Hey, with great power comes great responsibility.
Seriously, what would be the point of having yet another browser that works exactly like all the others? In this case, Opera gives you more choices and control, with the tradeoff that you have to make more choices. That tradeoff may not be to your taste, but it's hardly an automatic "usability nightmare."
posted by Western Infidels at 8:52 AM on June 22, 2006
"I'm not violently reactive to this. It's just that any time I point out flaws with Opera when compared to Firefox, the supposed fixes or workarounds are nothing of the sort ...
tell me how I can set up my fonts in less than 30 minutes"
I daren't.
I've also never looked at that option, but it's crap, isn't it? If they allowed you to select more than one area of use and then set the font, it would be much better. You're right.
But you haven't mentioned the dreadful bookmark editor, or the woefully dated online help. I'll give you those problems for free. What other usability problems do you see? I see...
The voice commands
The mouse gestures
The keyboard control
The full page zooming
The secure password collection and login system
The "previously opened tabs" saving or the "whoops I didn't mean to close that tab, let me have it back" recovery
The easy-toggle images
The one-click subscribe to site feeds, in the same place for every site, accessible from the inbuilt feed aggregator
I believe you're not being fair, but then again I'm undoubtedly biased by long happy years of use.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 8:54 AM on June 22, 2006
tell me how I can set up my fonts in less than 30 minutes"
I daren't.
I've also never looked at that option, but it's crap, isn't it? If they allowed you to select more than one area of use and then set the font, it would be much better. You're right.
But you haven't mentioned the dreadful bookmark editor, or the woefully dated online help. I'll give you those problems for free. What other usability problems do you see? I see...
The voice commands
The mouse gestures
The keyboard control
The full page zooming
The secure password collection and login system
The "previously opened tabs" saving or the "whoops I didn't mean to close that tab, let me have it back" recovery
The easy-toggle images
The one-click subscribe to site feeds, in the same place for every site, accessible from the inbuilt feed aggregator
I believe you're not being fair, but then again I'm undoubtedly biased by long happy years of use.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 8:54 AM on June 22, 2006
to get gmail to work in opera, go to the gmail site, hit F12, go to "edit site preferences", go to the "network" tab, and under "browser identification," checkmark "mask as mozilla."
should work fine after all that.
posted by lotsofno at 8:54 AM on June 22, 2006
should work fine after all that.
posted by lotsofno at 8:54 AM on June 22, 2006
Fonts:
Open preferences, click webpages, and set your fonts. There are only 2 fonts to set there.
Monspaced font and Normal font.
posted by bigmusic at 8:54 AM on June 22, 2006
Open preferences, click webpages, and set your fonts. There are only 2 fonts to set there.
Monspaced font and Normal font.
posted by bigmusic at 8:54 AM on June 22, 2006
Changing Ctrl-N to open new windows not tabs: change it back you fuc**ng fuc**rs. Now! Damn it! Put it back! Bas**rds!
Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Shortcuts -> Edit -> Application -> N ctrl
Select "new page" instead of "new window".
I still prefer Opera to Firefox. Usability is a lot smoother. You may be able to duplicate much of the functionality with extensions, but that means hours of research, downloading and configuring them; and repeating the process every time you upgrade or start using a different computer.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:00 AM on June 22, 2006
Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Shortcuts -> Edit -> Application -> N ctrl
Select "new page" instead of "new window".
I still prefer Opera to Firefox. Usability is a lot smoother. You may be able to duplicate much of the functionality with extensions, but that means hours of research, downloading and configuring them; and repeating the process every time you upgrade or start using a different computer.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:00 AM on June 22, 2006
fourcheesemac ... I thought IE 7 was hilarious actually. I was prepared to give it a good try - as a Firefox user I missed my mouse gestures so I went searching for extensions. It seemed that I might be on the right track with something called "add-ons", only to find myself in a sort of swanky boutique, being offered CRM systems for $99. Everything cost money. Then there was advertising for Samsung actually in embedded the IE menus themselves - Jeez! - I couldn't wait to get out of there. Microsoft have *so* lost it.
posted by grahamwell at 9:03 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by grahamwell at 9:03 AM on June 22, 2006
It sounds like you have bad intsall salmacis, what OS are you using?
posted by bigmusic at 9:05 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by bigmusic at 9:05 AM on June 22, 2006
salmacis: I'm not violently reactive to this. It's just that any time I point out flaws with Opera when compared to Firefox, the supposed fixes or workarounds are nothing of the sort.
Except that you are not comparing Opera to Firefox. Few of the features you claim are so critical are included with Firefox, or supported by the Firefox development group. IN my mind this is an important caveat in regards to extensions. Today's extensions may not work with the next crtitical security release of Firefox.
From what I can tell the primary advantage that Firefox has over Opera is that XUL has huge 3rd-party developer support. If you are comfortable adding fuctions though 3rd party extensions, then Firefox is a good choice. If you don't want to mess with extensions (and after the greasemonkey snafu, I think there are some good reasons), then Opera is a good choice.
Go to the fonts menu, and tell me how I can set up my fonts in less than 30 minutes. Any other browser, you select a Sans Serif font, a Serif Font and a monospace font, and a point size. Opera requires you to set a font for every single possibility!
Requires? Does this mean that Opera has some kind of a gremlin with a knife to your throat saying, "Change the h5 font, or you are in for big trouble!?"
If you don't want to have that level of control, you don't have to use it. For most sites just setting the css-font-families is good enough. If having that level of control presented in a dialog box bothers you, then perhaps Opera is not designed for you. (And on preview, what bigmusic said, why go to the Advanced tab if you don't want to?)
fourcheesemac: YMMV. Personally, some builds have been sluggish memory hogs after a full day of use.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:06 AM on June 22, 2006
Except that you are not comparing Opera to Firefox. Few of the features you claim are so critical are included with Firefox, or supported by the Firefox development group. IN my mind this is an important caveat in regards to extensions. Today's extensions may not work with the next crtitical security release of Firefox.
From what I can tell the primary advantage that Firefox has over Opera is that XUL has huge 3rd-party developer support. If you are comfortable adding fuctions though 3rd party extensions, then Firefox is a good choice. If you don't want to mess with extensions (and after the greasemonkey snafu, I think there are some good reasons), then Opera is a good choice.
Go to the fonts menu, and tell me how I can set up my fonts in less than 30 minutes. Any other browser, you select a Sans Serif font, a Serif Font and a monospace font, and a point size. Opera requires you to set a font for every single possibility!
Requires? Does this mean that Opera has some kind of a gremlin with a knife to your throat saying, "Change the h5 font, or you are in for big trouble!?"
If you don't want to have that level of control, you don't have to use it. For most sites just setting the css-font-families is good enough. If having that level of control presented in a dialog box bothers you, then perhaps Opera is not designed for you. (And on preview, what bigmusic said, why go to the Advanced tab if you don't want to?)
fourcheesemac: YMMV. Personally, some builds have been sluggish memory hogs after a full day of use.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:06 AM on June 22, 2006
bigmusic, I'm using linux. I'll see whether it works on OSX later on.
posted by salmacis at 9:08 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by salmacis at 9:08 AM on June 22, 2006
he he. OK salmacis, you win. Uninstall the bugger, it sounds rotten to me. Whether you try again in the future is your... well, your future. Thanks for giving it a go, anyway.
And thanks, TheophileEscargot, that sorted it.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 9:11 AM on June 22, 2006
And thanks, TheophileEscargot, that sorted it.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 9:11 AM on June 22, 2006
I'm wondering that also. I've been using opera quite a bit over the last 24 hours and have had no problems with gmail. I don't have the same level of bells and whistles as FF, but its certainly does what is needed.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:14 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:14 AM on June 22, 2006
Oh for bells and whistles, have a look at this page.
With a little tweaking opera can do alot.
posted by bigmusic at 9:22 AM on June 22, 2006
With a little tweaking opera can do alot.
posted by bigmusic at 9:22 AM on June 22, 2006
I took it for a test drive and I like it a lot. So long IE. Fast and easy and does what it's supposed to do.
posted by shockingbluamp at 9:23 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by shockingbluamp at 9:23 AM on June 22, 2006
You may be able to duplicate much of the functionality with extensions, ... and repeating the process every time you upgrade or start using a different computer.
I used to dread that part but someone came up with MozBackup which allows you to save (and migrate) your extensions/bookmarks/cookies/history/etc and one of the things Nightly Tester Tools can do is fool the browser into thinking an extension is compatible with whatever build your running.
Oh, and for the mouse gesture fans might want to give StrokeIt a whirl if your running windows.
posted by squeak at 10:09 AM on June 22, 2006
I used to dread that part but someone came up with MozBackup which allows you to save (and migrate) your extensions/bookmarks/cookies/history/etc and one of the things Nightly Tester Tools can do is fool the browser into thinking an extension is compatible with whatever build your running.
Oh, and for the mouse gesture fans might want to give StrokeIt a whirl if your running windows.
posted by squeak at 10:09 AM on June 22, 2006
I look forward to the days when Opera Software can afford to send you guys to Dark Continents and my front door to knock and ask if I've accepted Opera as The Living Browser yet.
posted by yerfatma at 10:52 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by yerfatma at 10:52 AM on June 22, 2006
firefox on os x feels like it has memory leaks that gradually slow it down.
posted by craniac at 11:05 AM on June 22, 2006
posted by craniac at 11:05 AM on June 22, 2006
I thought Camino was the browser everyone forgot about.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:35 PM on June 22, 2006
posted by kirkaracha at 1:35 PM on June 22, 2006
v9 has this loverly habbit of disapearing bits of text when you mouse over sibling elements. SUPER annoying.
you wont get people to switch unless opera solves a problem. I don't have a browser problem. ff is just fine. Plus, using a minority browser is like ASKING to be marginalized.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 2:05 PM on June 22, 2006
you wont get people to switch unless opera solves a problem. I don't have a browser problem. ff is just fine. Plus, using a minority browser is like ASKING to be marginalized.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 2:05 PM on June 22, 2006
Opera is pretty hard to beat. It still doesn't do some things that IE does, which annoys. YouTube embeds generally don't work.
But the skins are great. The tabs are great. I like seeing the Favicons in the tabs. I still don't have a clue about mouse gestures, but the customization factor is very useful.
The trash can has been very helpful.
And the zoom feature is great.
I don't like to throw money away, but I've been buying their browsers since around 1999 or so.
And #9 is free?
Download now.
posted by rougy at 2:38 PM on June 22, 2006
But the skins are great. The tabs are great. I like seeing the Favicons in the tabs. I still don't have a clue about mouse gestures, but the customization factor is very useful.
The trash can has been very helpful.
And the zoom feature is great.
I don't like to throw money away, but I've been buying their browsers since around 1999 or so.
And #9 is free?
Download now.
posted by rougy at 2:38 PM on June 22, 2006
Is there anyway to change which tab becomes active when closing the current tab? As far as I've ever been able to find out, it always goes to the previously active tab, there's no way to change it to focus the left or right tab? This is the one thing that keeps me using firefox....
posted by Boobus Tuber at 3:48 PM on June 22, 2006
posted by Boobus Tuber at 3:48 PM on June 22, 2006
grahamwell: That's the big addition in Opera9; they're called widgets.
As for AdBlock, I block all ad-servers on my hosts file. There's a quick-and-easy installer for Windows somewhere; too lazy to google at the moment.
posted by the cydonian at 9:02 PM on June 22, 2006
As for AdBlock, I block all ad-servers on my hosts file. There's a quick-and-easy installer for Windows somewhere; too lazy to google at the moment.
posted by the cydonian at 9:02 PM on June 22, 2006
I love the new AdBlock not because it is useful for blocking ads, but because it is actually Content Block. There are plenty of sites I could read at work with images turned off, but it is far far easier to just block the NSFW images and leave the rest visible using the Content Block system.
posted by nightchrome at 10:10 PM on June 22, 2006
posted by nightchrome at 10:10 PM on June 22, 2006
That's actually one of the things I love most about Opera, by the way. Whenever I tell people "Oh I just turn images off" or "plugins off" or "java off" or "referrers off" when viewing a given site, they're always like "Well, you can do that in Firefox too in Preferences!"
They don't seem to understand that I'm talking about a button, on the document itself, wherein I can toggle precisely how things in that window show up. I can be viewing Fark with images off right next to Digg with images on. Each of my document windows has toggle buttons for images, style sheets, plugins, java, and referrers.
Now, with Content Block, I don't even have to bother with toggling all images off, just ones I don't want to see.
posted by nightchrome at 11:12 PM on June 22, 2006
They don't seem to understand that I'm talking about a button, on the document itself, wherein I can toggle precisely how things in that window show up. I can be viewing Fark with images off right next to Digg with images on. Each of my document windows has toggle buttons for images, style sheets, plugins, java, and referrers.
Now, with Content Block, I don't even have to bother with toggling all images off, just ones I don't want to see.
posted by nightchrome at 11:12 PM on June 22, 2006
Is there anyway to change which tab becomes active when closing the current tab?
Preferences->Advanced->Tabs and change to "cycle in tab bar order"
posted by gyc at 2:38 AM on June 23, 2006
Preferences->Advanced->Tabs and change to "cycle in tab bar order"
posted by gyc at 2:38 AM on June 23, 2006
Preferences->Advanced->Tabs and change to "cycle in tab bar order"
gyc, thanks, but that just applies to using Ctrl-Tab to cycle through open tabs, it doesnt seem to affect which tab is focused when closing the active tab.
posted by Boobus Tuber at 3:01 AM on June 23, 2006
gyc, thanks, but that just applies to using Ctrl-Tab to cycle through open tabs, it doesnt seem to affect which tab is focused when closing the active tab.
posted by Boobus Tuber at 3:01 AM on June 23, 2006
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
1) Open the BBC News Homepage. Try making the text bigger and smaller (Ctrl ++ or Ctrl --). Notice how the text sizes but the images and column widths stay the same.
After a while the page looks silly. Try the same with Opera, the whole page scales smoothly. If you have an average monitor and average eyesight, that's very neat.
2) Your minority browser isn't so insignificant any more. With 10% of the browser share and growing, Firefox is a target, to spyware writers, advertisers and all round bad guys.
Noticed those pop-ups recently? There's a lot to be said about flying under the radar, just look at IE.
Two very different kinds of reasons to have a look. Your mileage will vary, but it's nice to know that there's a choice.
posted by grahamwell at 6:26 AM on June 22, 2006