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I'm just here to Browse... (the new Opera)

KorKor Known to detonate from time to timeRegistered User regular
So apparently Opera put out the beta for its 10.0 version of its browser recently.

I admit, I never cared much for the Browser conflicts. Friends telling me firefox is better than IE. Me never caring and comfortable with what I was using.

Then after the Wii came out and said it was featuring an Opera browser, for some reason it just caught my interest.

So I made the switch. I switched to opera a few years ago and never looked back. Since then, I've been married, to a woman who uses firefox exclusively.

Now, just recently, within the past month, my wife finally convinced me to leave opera for firefox. Mostly because I kept having issues with certain website support. Digg just wouldn't load sometimes, ytmnd.com didn't work period, I couldn't watch the new video's hosted on bungie's site, and several pages just had crappy bugs like the university of new mexico student pages.

The change was okay. pages seem to load slower in firefox, but I guess I can get to pages without problem anymore. It just takes me 2 or 3 clicks on a link once in a while.

Now we come to my knowledge of Opera 10. or rather, my lack of knowledge. I'm posting from Opera 10 right now, and I've got to say, the page loading speed is insane. We're talking less than 2 seconds easily; less than 1 second in most scenarios. Some of my previously listed websites seem to be working without flaw, so far.

I dunno why, but I've always just had a fondness of Opera, the layout itself just seems so smooth and fluid. Plus, it seems to have most of its better features stolen by IE and Firefox anyway.

The reason I'm brining any of this up at all though, is that I'm curious if anyone can shed some light on the reason why Opera seems to stay out of the spotlight? Why is it when Opera comes up with tabbed browsing, no one cares, but when Firefox does it, its the last nail of IE's coffin? Finally, I was hoping someone could educate me on what makes Opera 10 so much better than Opera 9? They seem to be trying their hardest to hype it up, but I'm having a hard time finding anything that isn't a short bullet point list of new(read: old but better) features.

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Kor on
«13

Posts

  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    The first time I saw Opera in college you had to buy it, or use an ad-sponsored version with a giant ad bar at the top. I never considered using it again. I wouldn't be surprised if it got a bad rap from its early days, just as Firefox had a good rap all along especially with the Linux/free software crowd.

    UncleSporky on
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  • KorKor Known to detonate from time to time Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Here's the little bulleted list I've found for Opera 10 so far:

    -It's faster
    -It's prettier
    -Speed dial is still around
    -We integrated some mail thingy
    -You can now expand your search bar
    -It's faster... again
    -Integrated spellcheck
    -Auto updates
    -Opera Mail can do more stuff now
    -Option to automatically send crash reports.
    -Something about Dragonfly/web dev tools.

    Kor on
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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I was going to make one of these again once Opera 10 got out of beta. I'm still using 9.5 since it works great for me but in general I love Opera because it's fast, because it has everything I need without extensions, and because it's easily customizable out of the box. I'm looking forward to the enhanced speed dial, and the speed boost obviously. They always boost speed. It's magic!

    Opera stays out of the spotlight because people are stupid and don't use it. That's the best answer, pretty much. Firefox has zillions of dollars from Google and the whole horde of open source junkies to pimp it everywhere on and offline, and obviously IE/Safari come preinstalled when you buy Windows or Mac, so Opera really never gets a break except on something like the Wii or phones where performance is at a premium and your browser actually has to not suck if you're going to be able to run it at any sort of speed.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • KorKor Known to detonate from time to time Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Well feel free to steal the post from me when the time comes. Chances are my internet will be cut off when it happens anyway.

    I didn't know that google was backing firefox.

    I guess with that, its safe to say opera's position is pretty much solidified.

    Kor on
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  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I hope this version is a lot more stable than the last one. I have the habit of simply always leaving the browser running, either up or minimized, all day every day. Or having it up while playing WoW. Apparently Opera does not like this one bit. After not too long, the browser does this psudo-crash. It goes completely unresponsive (the icon in the upper left corner actually changes to the default blue box icon) and takes forever to come back up. Either I sit there and wait 2-3 minutes for it to become active, or I have to whip open the task manager and pull the plug that way.

    I've since learned to control and limit these crashes. The only reason I've put up with it though is because of the Speed Dial feature. I seriously love this feature, and am willing to go through quite a bit just to keep it.

    The Wolfman on
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  • KorKor Known to detonate from time to time Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    That might be system specific. I used to leave Opera up all day everyday, and in the background while playing WoW all the time. Never had a problem in that regards.

    Kor on
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  • taliosfalcontaliosfalcon Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    One of the things i've always liked about opera is that its rock solid stability wise compared to firefox D:

    taliosfalcon on
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  • scootchscootch Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I introduced opera to my friend after seeing his browsing habbits using MSIE. he has on average 20 to 30 browser windows open. he needed one window browsing bad.

    scootch on
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  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    it has everything I need without extensions

    Opera stays out of the spotlight because people are stupid and don't use it. That's the best answer, pretty much.

    The bolded part doesn't apply to me, which is why I still use Firefox. Opera (and every other browser) doesn't have something that can replace Zotero, and AutoPager is awesome.

    Barrakketh on
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  • MoioinkMoioink Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Still looks and feels like a ropey port in OS X, like a Windows app that has been hastily transplanted with the usual tell tale signs: a lot of UI elements (text boxes, form buttons, drop down boxes, radio buttons etc.) look like Windows ones not native Mac which results in rendering errors, when you click the green + button it makes the app fill the screen and the window re-size marker has a white box around it. It's no secret why it's not that popular on Macs.

    Too bad really, I have a friend who preaches about Opera to me whenever he sees an opening but as good as it is on Linux/Windows Opera 10 still isn't up to snuff on Mac.

    Moioink on
  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Is this new version running well in Linux?

    The last version (one I was using a few months ago, in the Ubuntu 8.10 repos from back then) ran like shit.

    In fact, Opera's always been the slowest browser I've used, no matter which OS or computer I'm using. I've always wondered where all this praise over its speed comes from. It was especially bad in linux, where I had to re-click any given link / re-press-enter every address a minimum of three times to get it to go anywhere.

    ...that being said, it was still the only browser that didn't randomly crash (until I disabled flash in everything), so I still stuck with it anyway.


    tl;dr, is it REALLY faster, or is this fanboy / press release talk?

    Seeks on
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  • KorKor Known to detonate from time to time Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I personally notice a difference, but I'm of the opinion that this is all case by case.

    I have a 12 down 4 up connection speed, and this beta seems to give me faster pages than I'm used to. I can clearly see the difference.

    I also just notice a button at the bottom that says it increases speeds for slower connections. I can't test that, but I'm curious to the validity of it.

    Kor on
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  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Wow.

    I owe Opera an apology. This shit is fast as fuck.

    Seriously, I'm getting faster-than-Chrome speeds on this baby. The "turbo" mode just compresses everything, so it makes no difference on anything resembling broadband, but is theoretically a nice feature anyway. Don't bother with anything relying on images (such as... Penny Arcade's comics), since it makes everything look like it stopped loading half-way.

    I need to go try this on Ubuntu.

    Seeks on
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  • taliosfalcontaliosfalcon Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I've been testing the turbo out on my shitty satellite connection and it makes a huge difference, like seeks said it makes big images look like ass but for just web browsing its a night and day difference for me. Since its so easy to switch on and off I definitely see myself using it during peak hours when my speeds slow to a crawl and flicking it off otherwise

    taliosfalcon on
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  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Opera was worthing paying for when it was still for pay.

    It's an absolute steal at free. Best browser ever made. If a site doesn't play nice with it, too bad, if its not business related I don't go to it. Fast. Stable. Innovative.

    Xenogears of Bore on
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  • omega71omega71 Too old for a title, too ornery to care. Sacramento, CaliRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I just downloaded this a few seconds ago, and am posting from it right now.

    As a new user of Opera (minus my DSi) I am amazed.

    I am now trying to figure out if I can transfer all of my bookmarks in one easy swoop, if I can, then bamf I have a new browser it seems.

    omega71 on
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  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    scootch wrote: »
    I introduced opera to my friend after seeing his browsing habbits using MSIE. he has on average 20 to 30 browser windows open. he needed one window browsing bad.

    I used to do that and I still don't see much difference.

    Doing it that way, I could be in another program and have one click to the page I wanted, rather than two.

    Of course now everyone is forcing the tabs so oh well, I'll deal.

    UncleSporky on
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  • DírhaelDírhael NorwayRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I have to say, Opera Unite which was revealed today is, well, all kinds of awesome. A introduction can be found here in case you're interested :)

    Dírhael on
  • SyphonBlueSyphonBlue The studying beaver That beaver sure loves studying!Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    omega71 wrote: »
    I just downloaded this a few seconds ago, and am posting from it right now.

    As a new user of Opera (minus my DSi) I am amazed.

    I am now trying to figure out if I can transfer all of my bookmarks in one easy swoop, if I can, then bamf I have a new browser it seems.

    You can. Go to Bookmarks -> Manage Bookmarks -> File -> Import (Insert Browser Here)

    SyphonBlue on
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  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Seeks wrote: »
    Is this new version running well in Linux?

    The last version (one I was using a few months ago, in the Ubuntu 8.10 repos from back then) ran like shit.

    In fact, Opera's always been the slowest browser I've used, no matter which OS or computer I'm using. I've always wondered where all this praise over its speed comes from. It was especially bad in linux, where I had to re-click any given link / re-press-enter every address a minimum of three times to get it to go anywhere.

    ...that being said, it was still the only browser that didn't randomly crash (until I disabled flash in everything), so I still stuck with it anyway.


    tl;dr, is it REALLY faster, or is this fanboy / press release talk?

    D: What. the. Fuck. what a nightmare...

    Stormwatcher on
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  • LaPuzzaLaPuzza Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    This is maybe the wrong place, but nobody has answered elsewhere: Has anyone in the Opera universe heard anything about a new version for Wii? I've fallen for Opera in the new version, so i'm wondering when they're goign to upgrade the 2 year old, flash-hating version on Wii.

    LaPuzza on
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    The reason why I don't use Opera is because it quite simply has too much shit I don't want, or need. Firefox is a good compromise, becasue it starts lightweight, and then you can add what you want.

    I'm a chrome user on windows, and I love it. I want my browser to get out of my way, not load up features I couldn't give a shit about.

    wunderbar on
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  • exoplasmexoplasm Gainfully Employed Near Blizzard HQRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    http://www.opera.com/freedom
    http://unite.opera.com

    What is this I don't even...

    This could be good and bad at the same time. Easy file sharing? Sure. Web server in your browser? What?

    Opera: Making botnets a little easier to join since 2009.

    That said, the new version of Opera is pretty slick. I'm too used to my Firefox extensions to fully switch over, but I LOVE the speed so much.

    exoplasm on
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  • DírhaelDírhael NorwayRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    wunderbar wrote: »
    The reason why I don't use Opera is because it quite simply has too much shit I don't want, or need. Firefox is a good compromise, becasue it starts lightweight, and then you can add what you want.

    I'm a chrome user on windows, and I love it. I want my browser to get out of my way, not load up features I couldn't give a shit about.

    See, this particular argument just strikes me as, well, a bit strange. The mail, chat & bt ++ (and now the Unite) parts only loads if you choose to use them. If you don't, those elements will never even be loaded into memory. None of these elements are taking up any UI space either, unless you actually activate them.

    Dírhael on
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Opera is great. I has all the things I want, and when I install all those plugins in firefox to make it do what opera does, it becomes low and sluggish..

    autono-wally, erotibot300 on
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  • FugaFuga Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    tried this.
    turned turbo mode on. pictures look shitty, doesn't load all pages to the end (the fucking sandclock doesn't disappear), takes much longer to load and sometimes just doesn't load the pages fully, like all the icons don't load at all (for example the quote/reply/report ones here).
    no problems with turbo mode off though, but i don't see any reason to switch.

    Fuga on
  • SyphonBlueSyphonBlue The studying beaver That beaver sure loves studying!Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    wunderbar wrote: »
    The reason why I don't use Opera is because it quite simply has too much shit I don't want, or need. Firefox is a good compromise, becasue it starts lightweight, and then you can add what you want.

    I'm a chrome user on windows, and I love it. I want my browser to get out of my way, not load up features I couldn't give a shit about.

    But Opera only takes up 10 megs, whereas Firefox takes up 26 on my hard drive. Opera also uses only 5 megs more of RAM than Firefox.

    SyphonBlue on
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  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Seeks wrote: »
    Is this new version running well in Linux?

    The last version (one I was using a few months ago, in the Ubuntu 8.10 repos from back then) ran like shit.

    In fact, Opera's always been the slowest browser I've used, no matter which OS or computer I'm using. I've always wondered where all this praise over its speed comes from. It was especially bad in linux, where I had to re-click any given link / re-press-enter every address a minimum of three times to get it to go anywhere.

    ...that being said, it was still the only browser that didn't randomly crash (until I disabled flash in everything), so I still stuck with it anyway.


    tl;dr, is it REALLY faster, or is this fanboy / press release talk?

    D: What. the. Fuck. what a nightmare...



    Yeah, I know. It was just some weird thing with Ubuntu 8.10 and my computer... most other distros (including the subsequent Ubuntu and all the previous ones I've been with) don't have that problem.


    Speaking of Ubuntu, it's what I'm posting from now using the new Opera. 10000% better than the last one, holy shit.

    Looks like Firefox just became my flash video downloading program, unless there's an easy way to do that in Opera as well (looking through the cache, while technically a solution, is way too much of a pain).


    Edit: If I have one complaint about Opera, it's that I can't get the screen real estate down to what I can in other browsers... or at least, Firefox and Chrome. Not sure about IE, haven't used that for a while. Oh well.

    Seeks on
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  • DírhaelDírhael NorwayRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Seeks wrote: »
    Edit: If I have one complaint about Opera, it's that I can't get the screen real estate down to what I can in other browsers... or at least, Firefox and Chrome. Not sure about IE, haven't used that for a while. Oh well.

    Well, here's how I have mine configured at the moment. Doesn't really take much screen real estate, and if I could be bothered to use F2 instead of the address bar then I could slim it down to just the tab toolbar :)
    opera10.png

    Dírhael on
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    hey, what skin is that, and how did you hide the menu bar? :o

    autono-wally, erotibot300 on
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  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Man, those are both excellent questions.

    Spill it, Dir.

    Seeks on
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  • DírhaelDírhael NorwayRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    hey, what skin is that, and how did you hide the menu bar? :o
    Seeks wrote:
    Man, those are both excellent questions.

    Spill it, Dir.

    The skin is called "Breeze Simplified" ( link: http://my.cn.opera.com/community/customize/skins/info/?id=620 ). I've had to do some modifications to it though, as there have been a few changes in the default theme/engine since the last "official" release of that skin.

    If you want my modded version, get it here: http://gallery.thesecondscreen.com/uploads/breeze_simplified_v4_22c.zip ( save to %appdata%\Opera\<Opera...>\skin\ )
    (there's still some icons to replace in the latest Opera 10 betas, mainly the email client, but I'm not bothering with them until the new default theme is finalized)

    As for the menu bar, well, it depends on what version of Opera you're using. The easiest way would be to just download the very latest build from the Opera Desktop Team: http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/ and uncheck "Show Menu Bar" in the file menu.

    EDIT: Changed a few icons in the skin to replace a couple of the new Opera 10 defaults.

    Dírhael on
  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Awesome, thanks.

    This is much better.

    Seeks on
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  • DírhaelDírhael NorwayRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Updated the skin to fix the bugs with, and actually style, pages in the new thumbnail page/tab-bar:
    http://gallery.thesecondscreen.com/uploads/breeze_simplified_v4_22d.zip
    (If you, like me, don't use this feature then just right-click a tab -> customize -> uncheck "Enable Thumbnails in Tabs." This looks better, and saves you a few vertical pixels)

    EDIT: Did a few more tweaks to the thumbnails.

    Dírhael on
  • EgoEgo Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Hey Dirhael, just wanted to say thanks for sharing.

    I'm impressed with the beta. I'm going to give it a shot at replacing FF for personal use and see how things go.

    Ego on
    Erik
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    SyphonBlue wrote: »
    wunderbar wrote: »
    The reason why I don't use Opera is because it quite simply has too much shit I don't want, or need. Firefox is a good compromise, becasue it starts lightweight, and then you can add what you want.

    I'm a chrome user on windows, and I love it. I want my browser to get out of my way, not load up features I couldn't give a shit about.

    But Opera only takes up 10 megs, whereas Firefox takes up 26 on my hard drive. Opera also uses only 5 megs more of RAM than Firefox.

    Firefox might SEEM lightweight, but compared to Opera it runs like crap and, like Syphon points out, it's bigger. Opera's extra features slowit down less than Firefox's "I can't do anything unless you install an extension!" faux-asceticism.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Is there a (non-kludgy) way to move the tab-bar below the address-bar? I haven't seen any clean solutions...

    iTunesIsEvil on
  • AiranAiran Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    ^^^ I don't think that's possible since each tab is actually a window (try and minimize/arrange your tabs), so you'd need a address bar with the window.

    I enjoy the multitude of features that come out of the box with Opera. The panel with Notes, History with Search, IRC, Transfers etc etc, the 'Auto Open a new tab when searching' function, show images toggle, zoom, inline find (though I find FF's find a little better), Paste & Go shortcut, the cascading bookmarks list, the Trash Can, the Multiple Document Interface layout (where the tabs are actually windows, thus resizable within the browser) and of course, Speed Dial.

    Most of these have been implemented into other browsers with extensions but still. I only wish there were better tutorials for building widgets. I'm still wishful for NoScript on Opera, and no "turn off JS button" hack will do for me.

    Oh! Opera also loads images within spoiler tags, only when I click on it, no complaining about large images behind spoilers here! :P

    Airan on
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  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I hope this version is a lot more stable than the last one. I have the habit of simply always leaving the browser running, either up or minimized, all day every day. Or having it up while playing WoW. Apparently Opera does not like this one bit. After not too long, the browser does this psudo-crash. It goes completely unresponsive (the icon in the upper left corner actually changes to the default blue box icon) and takes forever to come back up. Either I sit there and wait 2-3 minutes for it to become active, or I have to whip open the task manager and pull the plug that way.

    I've since learned to control and limit these crashes. The only reason I've put up with it though is because of the Speed Dial feature. I seriously love this feature, and am willing to go through quite a bit just to keep it.

    I used to have this exact same problem, it was some sort of memory leak in 9.5-something and I *think* it involved leaving Flash applications open in tabs for long periods of time. I haven't seen it crop back up in the last few versions and I'm definitely not getting it in 9.64 which is what I'm running right now, but what I've been doing is opening almost all of my Youtube videos and other major Flash using sites in Firefox instead. That way if FF starts getting too bloated I can just shut it down and restart it and I have no problems with everything else in my main browsing.

    Dranyth on
  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Is there a (non-kludgy) way to move the tab-bar below the address-bar? I haven't seen any clean solutions...

    No, but the kludgy solution isn't too bad, actually. In short, *everything* is a toolbar. The only practical difference between the Address Bar and the Main Toolbar is that one is above the tabs and one is below. Just move everything from one toolbar to the other.

    View -> Toolbars -> Main Bar
    Right click on the bar and select Customize -> Appearance.
    Right click on each icon on the Main Bar and remove them. Drag all the items from the Address Bar up to the Main Bar.
    Click on the Address Bar and select "Off" on the Placement dropdown.

    If you later decide that this is a non-ideal solution, you can Right-Click -> Customize -> Reset toolbar to default. Then bring up the Appearance box again, show hidden toolbars, set the placement of the address bar from "off" to "top", and reset that toolbar to default also.

    All this looks pretty complicated, but it takes like thirty seconds to do in real life.

    Frem on
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