Opera

Opera 9 thoughts

 

Opera 8’s UI really had most everything it needed to be a great browser (I haven’t upgraded at work and can barely tell the difference). 9’s big delivery is in the area of web standards (opacity, SVG, DOM Style) and hot proprietary ones like rich text editing, Flash-Javascript communication and the Canvas element. There are additions to write home about on the UI side as well (site-specific settings, content blocking), but the under-the-hood stuff above is what will truly allow a new Opera user to use the latest web sites they’re already used to without getting a broken/dumbed down interface or being flat out blocked.

The new widgets feature is surely meant as an answer to (or at least a distraction from) Firefox Extensions, but I think this move will only make it more apparent that people really want to customize their browsing experience rather than collect desktop gizmos. Even with all the headaches associated with dealing with managing Extensions (and upgrades)–and I’ve dealt with them from the Mozilla 0.9 days through Pheonix and now Firefox)–the modifications they can perform are staggering and impossible to ignore. Although extensions give you the power to wreck/destabilize your browser and make upgrading a pain, users now expect that power.

A couple things I’d personally like to see in Opera is a richer panel implementation and maybe some advanced Javascript extensions. Mozilla/Netscape7’s “sidebar” could’ve used a better control UI, but it allowed multiple panels to be visible simultaneously. I think if Opera encouraged web developers to develop panels with the same gusto as they promote widgets, they might prove more useful just because they live inside the browser where the user lives most of the time anyway! Maybe I need to create a slick panel as a proof of concept. In the Javascript area I’m thinking some extra interfaces available to bookmarklets (better persistant storage than document.cookie, local storage of JS libraries) could help make up for the lack of extensions. Just some ideas…

My Opera 8.5 Review on CNET

 

As this Opera 8.5 review took awhile to put together, I might as well post it here as well. I’ve been an Opera user since v6 after being fed up with reinstalling Mozilla and its extensions. Firefox has a lot going for it these days, but it still doesn’t feel as nimble as Opera to me, and the default install still doesn’t cut it feature-wise, so I always have to go dig for extensions that invariably muck the install up. To be fair, there’s plenty about Opera that could annoy/confuse some users so I try to cover both sides.

Pros

  • Undo (ctrl-z) opens closed tabs (since Opera was opened!) with full history. This is the handiest feature.
  • Close Opera and restart where you left off with all tabs loaded (or don’t, it’s up to you). If Opera crashes? Just reopen, everything’s there.
  • Advanced features power users expect, like mouse gestures and the two above, Just Work out-of-the-box without worrying about extensions. Search the web for how many FF users have had to uninstall, manually scrub their registries and Program Files, reinstall and redownload all their extensions. I suffered through lots of this with every Gecko product before sticking w/ Opera.
  • Install new versions over the old ones, or start fresh in a new folder and run em side-by-side. It Just Works.
  • Super customizable with the best skinning in the business. 1) click skin (it shows what your browser will look like with all your menus/toolbars instantly) 2) keep it or don’t.
  • Dead simple panel usability. It’s just a bookmark in a frame, put anything in there. I have my TaDa list in front of me every time Opera opens.
  • Instant print preview with fit-to-page. IE users are used to neither..
  • Notes is the perfect web researh tool. Copy page text to a note (it remembers the URL) then add your own text. Double-click the note to return to the page.
  • Javascript: Fastest engine on Windows, excellent bookmarklet capabilities, User JS without the vulnerabilities of Greasemonkey, and Opera allows access to it’s JS console so JS authors can get fancier JS errors in a panel.
  • Lesser target for evil than FF and IE. Of course, no ActiveX.
  • Great download manager that remembers source URLs.
  • Helpful forums and users
  • Now free and ad-free :)

Cons

  • It can’t install advanced 3rd-party extensions that dig into the chrome, etc (though bookmarklets may do the job).
  • Non-savvy web users used to IE may be overwhelmed or disable cookies/JS/images/CSS and forget how to re-enable them. If dad is used to clicking "the blue e", FF may save you some tech support calls.
  • Some sites needlessly hide features from/block it. Savvy users can usually get around these and Opera handles everything fine, but others might find it very frustrating.
  • Older versions lacked full AJAX support (used in Gmail). This fact contributes to the problem above.
  • Embedded Quicktime and RealPlayer plug-ins sometimes are a pain to get working, and may still fail if the site used incompatible HTML.
  • Opera’s error-correction is a bit different than IE and FF, so sites made by amateurs that "made it work in IE and FF" may render differently.
  • Like any highly customizable app, Opera gives you the power to really mess it up (though it can always be fixed).
  • Lacks IE/FF’s in-browser rich text editing interface, though these are mostly common in CMS’s.
  • Like all non-IE browsers, lacks ability to verify signed executables you open off the web (though signed doesn’t necessarily imply safe).

What Pop-ups? (An Opera Story)

 

Advertising.com revealed that people click on annoying pop-up ads 13 times as often as they do passive banner ads. This will surely translate to even more sites using pop-ups for generating ad revenue, but I’ll still never see them because the software developers of the web browsers Opera, Netscape, Mozilla and Safari care about user experience. They’ve integrated intelligent pop-up blockers as part of their feature-rich browsers. What I mean by intelligent is that these browsers will still allow pop-ups when you request them (by clicking a link) rather than indiscriminately blocking all pop-up windows (like the 3rd-party, parasitic add-ons to IE do).

I Heart Opera

Speaking of user experience, Opera7.1 is the most user-centric web browser I’ve used.

  • It loads in a heartbeat and uses very little memory.
  • I search google by typing “g [terms]” (similarly for
    Amazon, E-bay, etc.)
  • While I read, I open links in the background so I can look at them after
    finishing an article without having to wait as they load. Meanwhile they
    sit in a convenient, tabbed interface instead of in individual windows.
  • When researching something, I can create simple text notes that automatically
    remember where I was when I took them.
  • To go back I just hold the right mouse button and click the left (and
    vice-versa to go forward again).
  • If text is too big or small, I can zoom a whole page in 10% increments
    with [+/-].
  • I can “skin” the browser when I feel like a new look. (see
    pink_bunny
    or Azurino)
  • I can toggle images, javascript, java applets, plug-ins (like Flash),
    cookies, animated GIFs, embedded sounds.
  • It’s the most
    compliant browser with regards to modern web standards    , letting me see
    sites as the designer fully intended.
  • If sloppy designers make broken web pages I can turn their style off with
    one click, giving me access to the unadulterated content of the site.
  • The latest version is only a 3MB download.

I could go on and on, but, basically, Opera innovates in ways that put me in control rather than leaving me at the mercy of the web. It’s all in their vision:

We believe in respect for our users.

Users have since the beginning shaped Opera’s features and spread the word to the uninitiated. Thanks to this interaction Opera Software exists today, both as an organization and as a technology leader. Opera Software will never forget that its main focus is the user.

What pop-ups?

 

Advertising.com revealed that people click on annoying pop-up ads 13 times as often as they do passive banner ads. This will surely translate to even more sites using pop-ups for generating ad revenue, but I’ll still never see them because the software developers of the web browsers Opera, Netscape, Mozilla and Safari care about user experience. They’ve integrated intelligent pop-up blockers as part of their feature-rich browsers. What I mean by intelligent is that these browsers will still allow pop-ups when you request them (by clicking a link) rather than indiscriminately blocking all pop-up windows (like the 3rd-party, parasitic add-ons to IE do).

I Heart Opera

Speaking of user experience, Opera7.1
is the most user-centric web browser I’ve used.

  • It loads in a heartbeat and uses very little memory.
  • I search google by typing “g [terms]” (similarly for Amazon, E-bay, etc.)
  • While I read, I open links in the background so I can look at them after finishing an article without having to wait as they load. Meanwhile they sit in a convenient, tabbed interface instead of in individual windows.
  • When researching something, I can create simple text notes that automatically remember where I was when I took them.
  • To go back I just hold the right mouse button and click the left (and vice-versa to go forward again).
  • If text is too big or small, I can zoom a whole page in 10% increments with [+/-].
  • I can “skin” the browser when I feel like a new look. (see pink_bunny or Azurino)
  • I can toggle images, javascript, java applets, plug-ins (like Flash), cookies, animated GIFs, embedded sounds.
  • It’s the most compliant browser with regards to modern web standards, letting me see sites as the designer fully intended.
  • If sloppy designers make broken web pages I can turn their style off with one click, giving me access to the unadulterated content of the site.
  • The latest version is only a 3MB download.

I could go on and on, but, basically, Opera innovates in ways that put me in control rather than leaving me at the mercy of the web. It’s all in their vision:

We believe in respect for our users.

Users have since the beginning shaped Opera’s features and spread the word to the uninitiated. Thanks to this interaction Opera Software exists today, both as an organization and as a technology leader. Opera Software will never forget that its main focus is the user.

You don’t win friends with salad

You can’t make this stuff up: “Sandra Garner and her husband, Darryl Garner, had invited a few guests over to their apartment on S Highland Avenue for a Memorial Day dinner. The menu was simple: A few drinks. A little chicken. And a whole lot of salad.” They argue over the salad, kick all their friends out, and both end up in jail for domestic battery, resisting arrest with violence, use of a firearm while under the influence, improper exhibition of a firearm and disorderly conduct. full story (St. Pete Times)