Oh...i just discovered Opera - and i love it

[flexy]

i got Opera yesterday and had a few minutes just to test around and browse and play with options.

WHOW !

I think i dump FF.....especially since i was on another site yesterday where FF did not work and Opera (and IE of course) did NOT have any problems.

I think Opera is a kick a$$ browser and i didnt see anything what FF would have which Opera wont....

very slick feel, MANY features...and at the same time small memory imprint and fast and everything....how could i miss such a good browser ???????

 

[Modeps]

I've tried several versions of Opera and have not liked any of them.

 

[ActuaryTm]

As I've said in the past, both browsers have a great deal of merit.

That said, I choose Opera as my daily browser.

 

[Hadsus]

I installed the latest version just yesterday (8???).....anyway too much of the browser space is devoted to buttons and navigation which means a smaller content window. And it doesn't help that the ads are there to take up space also. I'm with the Firefox philosophy......keep navigation junk out of the way but still make it a full featured browser that's customizable with extensions and themes. I'm sticking with FF.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: Hadsus
I installed the latest version just yesterday (8???).....anyway too much of the browser space is devoted to buttons and navigation which means a smaller content window.......keep navigation junk out of the way but still make it a full featured browser that's customizable with extensions and themes. I'm sticking with FF.

You may want to take the time to educate yourself that the UI is completely customizable. Here is one example.

And it doesn't help that the ads are there to take up space also.

May want to also look here.

I'm with the Firefox philosophy......

Again, while they are both great applications, most (if not all) Firefox features were borrowed from Opera.

 

[Hadsus]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: Hadsus
I installed the latest version just yesterday (8???).....anyway too much of the browser space is devoted to buttons and navigation which means a smaller content window.......keep navigation junk out of the way but still make it a full featured browser that's customizable with extensions and themes. I'm sticking with FF.

You may want to take the time to educate yourself that the UI is completely customizable. Here is one example.

And it doesn't help that the ads are there to take up space also.

May want to also look here.

I'm with the Firefox philosophy......

Again, while they are both great applications, most (if not all) Firefox features were borrowed from Opera.

Unfortunately the ads put the kybosh on my ability to fully experiment with the interface. I played around with the interface quite a bit last nite and couldn't get satisfied with anything I saw. I want to boil things down to two lines at the top. Still, your screenie helps alot. I won't consider using Opera with the ads.

 

[bersl2]

OK, wonderful.

The ultimate goal isn't to get everybody to use Firefox, and I wish more people would stop thinking in terms of black and white. The goal is to have a very diverse population of browsers, all conforming to the W3C standards. Having several different code bases makes it harder for malware writers to hijack any given user's browser. It's security though diversity.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: Hadsus
I won't consider using Opera with the ads.

Again, you may want to read the link provided above, or this thread as well.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: bersl2
The goal is to have a very diverse population of browsers, all conforming to the W3C standards.

Hear, hear.

 

[datalink7]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: Hadsus
I won't consider using Opera with the ads.

Again, you may want to read the link provided above, or this thread as well.

Isn't this only for Opera 7.xx anyway?

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: datalink7
Isn't this only for Opera 7.xx anyway?

Indeed it is. A user also mentions in one of the threads that it provides an inexpensive upgrade path to v 8 (cannot confirm or deny this).

Am personally still testing v 8.

I find I use v 7.23 and v 7.54u2 the most at the moment (roughly 20 or 25 Opera installations across a number of physical and virtual machines). Both are solid versions.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: bersl2
OK, wonderful.

The ultimate goal isn't to get everybody to use Firefox, and I wish more people would stop thinking in terms of black and white. The goal is to have a very diverse population of browsers, all conforming to the W3C standards. Having several different code bases makes it harder for malware writers to hijack any given user's browser. It's security though diversity.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Security by diversity has nothing to do with how many exploits are written, it has to do with viral replication. What I mean is, when a major virus gets out it is able to propagate faster because there are enough windows machines available for infection. If the operating system market were more diverse the bug wouldn't be able to spread as quickly because it wouldn't find as many vulnerable machines and it's effect wouldn't be as bad because we would have more operational systems still available for use.

Browsers suffer from much more than viral infection. A successful phishing attack doesn't depend on how many other people are running the same browser, assuming that the attack gets written in the first place.

I don't believe that equal market sharing (say 33% each for IE, opera, ff/moz) will reduce the number of attacks overall because the critical mass for a browser to become a target is smaller that 1/3 of the market (or so I hypothesize). Since firefox has gained so much popularity the number of potential exploits published has risen a fair bit and it's still nowhere near 33%. The only external factor a browser benefits from is security by obscurity and I don't think any mainstream browser can count on that.

I think that the only solution is to write safe software. In that sense, though, the diversity is good because it gives users a choice and motivates the authors to produce secure software for fear of losing users.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm
A user also mentions in one of the threads that it provides an inexpensive upgrade path to v 8 (cannot confirm or deny this).

For those interested, this is the result of registering (translation from German):

• "Thanks for your registration of Opera. A E-Mail with your license key was dispatched to the indicated E-Mail address. After the appearance of Opera 8 you can acquire this to a special price of 8 euro."

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I'm a long time opera user, have always loved it. I feel it fills a gap between FF and IE personally!

 

[Zugzwang152]

I gave 8.0 a run last night, and i like it. it feels a lot more polished and complete than Firefox (probably since it's an actual commercial product). If Opera got rid of the ads, it should be easily able to compete with Firefox and IE.

 

[Hadsus]

Originally posted by: datalink7

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: Hadsus
I won't consider using Opera with the ads.

Again, you may want to read the link provided above, or this thread as well.

Isn't this only for Opera 7.xx anyway?

Apparently so. I got a registration code and it doesn't work. Too much a PITA at this point to find a 7.XX/register/upgrade when I'm happy with FF. The Opera people need to ask perhaps if their browser market share is so low cause it's not too accomodating to customers. They should make the non-ad version available with a timer.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Hadsus

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: Hadsus
I installed the latest version just yesterday (8???).....anyway too much of the browser space is devoted to buttons and navigation which means a smaller content window.......keep navigation junk out of the way but still make it a full featured browser that's customizable with extensions and themes. I'm sticking with FF.

You may want to take the time to educate yourself that the UI is completely customizable. Here is one example.

And it doesn't help that the ads are there to take up space also.

May want to also look here.

I'm with the Firefox philosophy......

Again, while they are both great applications, most (if not all) Firefox features were borrowed from Opera.

Unfortunately the ads put the kybosh on my ability to fully experiment with the interface. I played around with the interface quite a bit last nite and couldn't get satisfied with anything I saw. I want to boil things down to two lines at the top. Still, your screenie helps alot. I won't consider using Opera with the ads.

In your one example, over 75% of the top bars are empty space. Please tell me you can move that URL bar to the top line...

 

[Malak]

For what it's worth, I'm more likely to pay for Opera than use any other free alternative. But then, I kind of like the google ads. At the very least, they can be handy when I need them and are so small that I won't notice them in normal browsing. With the ads, it doesn't take up any more space than IE does. Put them side by side. Most people even add toolbars to IE, which makes IE actually have a bigger header than Opera. I'm sure many firefox users do the same thing.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
In your one example, over 75% of the top bars are empty space. Please tell me you can move that URL bar to the top line...

Of course. Absolutely. Was just an example. Here's another from a virtual machine implementing your suggestion. Again, I utilize a myriad of versions as mentioned above. I simply chose one as an example. With the number of skins available, and the choices with the various toolbars and buttons (all customizable), the possibilities are endless.

Originally posted by: Hadsus
Apparently so. I got a registration code and it doesn't work. Too much a PITA at this point to find a 7.XX/register/upgrade when I'm happy with FF.

The free version would be merely choosing from any listed here (or on other platforms as well, not just win-32).

Wasn't aware this was considered rocket science by some.

 

[XBoxLPU]

You may want to take the time to educate yourself that the UI is completely customizable.

When the default for FireFox is just what I want... why spend the time...

8.0 has seemed to reduce most of the clutter I hated with 7.XX but I still don't like it.

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: Hadsus
I won't consider using Opera with the ads.

Again, you may want to read the link provided above, or this thread as well.

It is only for 7.XX. Stil $15 to upgrade

Firefox is free

 

[n0cmonkey]

I'll use it when it's free and/or can run on more than a couple of platforms.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
When the default for FireFox is just what I want... why spend the time...

8.0 has seemed to reduce most of the clutter I hated with 7.XX but I still don't like it.

I think the philosophy behind v 7.x is much like Service Pack 2 for Windows Xp, or Service Pack 1 for Server 2003 - features on by default.

Again, I still use mostly versions of 7.x. Am still testing v 8 (none of the shots above are of v 8).

v 7.23 and v 7.54 are both excellent builds of the application, and offer nearly every feature imaginable.

It is only for 7.XX. Stil $15 to upgrade

Firefox is free

I feel as though this is bordering on repetitious; likely due to the fact that I am repeating nearly the same points verbatim in each instance of these threads. For those offering some sort of argument, please at the very least read the first comment in this thread.

Both choices (Firefox and Opera) are excellent applications. I use both, and have likely used both longer than most have.

I pay for Opera (and have, since v 5.x), and choose Opera as my default, daily browser. I think bersl2 stated it best - the goal is a W3C compliant browser - regardless of the choice.

The sad commentary is threads like this turn into some sort of browser war. I for one sincerely respect Firefox users - hopefully, that is rather apparent. It's a loss to the end-user (and the end-user collective) however to simply dismiss an application without first testing it thoroughly. I find more often than not a large percentage of Firefox users commit this very act with regard to Opera.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I'll use it when it's free and open sourced.

Corrected for those unfamiliar with n0cmonkey's terminology.

 

[Hadsus]

Actuary, you've been quite helpful. I had some pointed questions and you pointed the way to the answers. I can see that I probably can customize my interface the way I want to......if I were to buy it. If I have some time and the inclination I'll DL an earlier version, plug in the registration code, and upgrade to 8 (BTW, that link for other Opera versions does not have one for 8.....maybe its called something else there). Opera appears to be a very nice browser. But they are making a mistake, IMO, of going the ad route for free usage. No ads and a timer is preferable to me.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Modeps
I've tried several versions of Opera and have not liked any of them.

agreed