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basa · 27-01-2005, 12:29

Just noticed this thread and as an avid Opera user just couldn't let it go without a few comments. Apologies for not formatting this reply to credit each postee.

Opera is a very good browser. It's download is 3.4MB compared to 4.7MB for FF and don't forget this includes many of the facilities that require 'extensions' in FF, such as tabbed browsing and mouse gestures.

..........it was a good browser but had a terrible UI. OK the default UI is not nice but a simple click on tools>skins downloads and installs new UI's in an instant. There are hundreds of them and install themselves completely automatically.

Because its full of adverts. Who's going to choose to look at more adverts on the net?
You have to pay to get rid of the adverts?
Get stuffed, I'm not paying anything for a browser when I have IE.

The advert panel is small - about the same depth as an icon or menu bar and around 2/3 the width of the screen. Most web sites contain ads and until I registered my copy I was totally unaware of the ads anyway as they were so unobtrusive. Anyway how much did your M$ OS cost you ? IE ain't free and by the time you've strapped it down to prevent intrusions you might as well install a secure browser !

.......it doesn't even copy my bookmarks and homepage when I install it

A simple import of your bookmarks is all it takes and re-assigning a homepage is a doddle.

- I've yet to come across a website which doesn't work in Firefox and that includes my online banking with Natwest Like wise Opera.

Operas UI is almost infinitely user adjustable, my top bar contains just one row - the navigation icons together with the address panel. Tabs only appear with more than one window open ! The progress bar likewise only appears when loading sites. One click and my bookmarks, history, download and mail tabs appear (oh, did I forget to mention, Opera comes with its own integrated mail client included in the standard download - this checks my mail on opening and thereafter at intervals of my choosing. And its more secure than OE as it doesn't automatically open attachments or run mal-code). It runs all my banking sites, the only thing it won't do is export pics to eBay from your own hard drive - this uses an ActiveX component I believe and for obvious reasons Opera won't run ActiveX. Apart from this I have yet to find a site which doesn't work well using Opera.

One aspect I really love is when doing research on the web and want to copy info from sites, Opera has a 'copy text' (right click menu) facility which does just what it says and leaves any page styles or formatting behind. I found using other browsers using copy>paste imports lots of hidden page formatting off the web page which buggers up your text management in the word processor app. The same is true of copying pics - I just right click 'copy image' and paste into my document (I use Open Office Writer). No fuss, no struggling to delete web page formats. Oh and of course it is fast and mouse gestures make it even faster. It has a password manager built in which securely stores all web site log-ins - one move of the mouse and your in ! How about zoom in / out with the scroll wheel, spoofing (for poor or limited browser sites), hotclicking (selected text options) and data / cookie controls all in the standard download.

I have tried FF many times but never got further than installing it - I just couldn't get extensions to work (my bad probably), couldn't find a decent skin and didn't want to download another mail client or go back to OE. I'm sure FF is good if not great but I see no reason to change from Opera / M2.

27-01-2005, 12:29	#40
basa Inactive Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: S Manchester Age: 77 Posts: 1,766	Re: Opera, the Forgotten Browser Just noticed this thread and as an avid Opera user just couldn't let it go without a few comments. Apologies for not formatting this reply to credit each postee. Opera is a very good browser. It's download is 3.4MB compared to 4.7MB for FF and don't forget this includes many of the facilities that require 'extensions' in FF, such as tabbed browsing and mouse gestures. ..........it was a good browser but had a terrible UI. OK the default UI is not nice but a simple click on tools>skins downloads and installs new UI's in an instant. There are hundreds of them and install themselves completely automatically. Because its full of adverts. Who's going to choose to look at more adverts on the net? You have to pay to get rid of the adverts? Get stuffed, I'm not paying anything for a browser when I have IE. The advert panel is small - about the same depth as an icon or menu bar and around 2/3 the width of the screen. Most web sites contain ads and until I registered my copy I was totally unaware of the ads anyway as they were so unobtrusive. Anyway how much did your M$ OS cost you ? IE ain't free and by the time you've strapped it down to prevent intrusions you might as well install a secure browser ! .......it doesn't even copy my bookmarks and homepage when I install it A simple import of your bookmarks is all it takes and re-assigning a homepage is a doddle. - I've yet to come across a website which doesn't work in Firefox and that includes my online banking with Natwest Like wise Opera. Operas UI is almost infinitely user adjustable, my top bar contains just one row - the navigation icons together with the address panel. Tabs only appear with more than one window open ! The progress bar likewise only appears when loading sites. One click and my bookmarks, history, download and mail tabs appear (oh, did I forget to mention, Opera comes with its own integrated mail client included in the standard download - this checks my mail on opening and thereafter at intervals of my choosing. And its more secure than OE as it doesn't automatically open attachments or run mal-code). It runs all my banking sites, the only thing it won't do is export pics to eBay from your own hard drive - this uses an ActiveX component I believe and for obvious reasons Opera won't run ActiveX. Apart from this I have yet to find a site which doesn't work well using Opera. One aspect I really love is when doing research on the web and want to copy info from sites, Opera has a 'copy text' (right click menu) facility which does just what it says and leaves any page styles or formatting behind. I found using other browsers using copy>paste imports lots of hidden page formatting off the web page which buggers up your text management in the word processor app. The same is true of copying pics - I just right click 'copy image' and paste into my document (I use Open Office Writer). No fuss, no struggling to delete web page formats. Oh and of course it is fast and mouse gestures make it even faster. It has a password manager built in which securely stores all web site log-ins - one move of the mouse and your in ! How about zoom in / out with the scroll wheel, spoofing (for poor or limited browser sites), hotclicking (selected text options) and data / cookie controls all in the standard download. I have tried FF many times but never got further than installing it - I just couldn't get extensions to work (my bad probably), couldn't find a decent skin and didn't want to download another mail client or go back to OE. I'm sure FF is good if not great but I see no reason to change from Opera / M2.