| 1/ Installation of the Opera browser: | | | | appearance by choosing new skins. The actual |
| It's very easy to download and install Opera - as | | | | process is slicker than in Firefox - where you |
| long as you kow how to install any software on | | | | have to restart the application to change the |
| your favourite platform. | | | | appearance. Customizing Opera can be done |
| 2/ Opera browsers latest features : | | | | directly from the appearance window which |
| - Tabbed browsing : addmitedly, tabbed browsing | | | | shows a selection of skins by categories (populars |
| has been a feature of Opera for a long time now. | | | | skins, new skins, editor's choice ...). And a simple |
| This allows users to surf the Web easier and | | | | drag and drop will add, remove or rearrange |
| faster by opening multiple Web pages within the | | | | buttons or toolbars. |
| same application window. It is now standard on | | | | 6/ Web standards adherence |
| any browser, Internet Explorer being the very | | | | While Firefox is a good challenger with regard to |
| last to join in last year. More interestingly, the | | | | web standards and Internet Explorer being just |
| thumbnail preview is a very useful addition : when | | | | average with its brand new version of Internet |
| having many tabs open at once in Opera, it can | | | | Explorer, Opera's respect of web standards is |
| be easy to get lost : however, thanks to the | | | | very good : like Konqueror (Linux, BSD) and Safari |
| thumbnail preview feature, hovering the mouse on | | | | (Mac OSX) browsers, it passes the very tough |
| any tab will show a thumbnail preview. | | | | acid2 test. It currently supports all major Web |
| - New trash can icon : Another useful feature is | | | | standards currently in use, including CSS 2.1, |
| the new trash can icon. If you accidentally close a | | | | XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.01, WML 2.0, ECMAScript, |
| web page that you want to keep open, with | | | | DOM 2 and SVG 1.1 basic. |
| Opera's trash can, you can reload that page | | | | One minor thing, however : some websites have |
| quickly without having to dig through the history | | | | compatibility issues, due to not using web |
| file. | | | | standards, not really Opera's at fault, though. This |
| - Mouse gestures : Opera was also the first | | | | doesn't happen often, but still. |
| browser to allow mouse gestures (user JS) to | | | | 7/ Web development features |
| perform certain movements with the mouse to | | | | While we would still prefer Firefox's numerous |
| access commonly used features : it's certainly a | | | | extensions to help us in the process of web |
| good idea but there are so many to memorize | | | | development, Opera includes some nice features |
| that many of us may not bother to learn how to | | | | as well : for example, it's possible to validate the |
| use it. | | | | HTML code of any Web page by pressing |
| - Bit torrent support : a simple but strong | | | | Ctrl+Alt+V; also, when showing a page in |
| bitTorrent support is now built-in : by simply | | | | small-screen mode, one can see how it will look |
| clicking a torrent link, your download starts. We | | | | on a mobile phone or other small-screen device |
| don't think that most people will use it, but still, it's | | | | running Opera. The info panel will show details |
| a nice addition for the others. | | | | about the currently open page such as MIME |
| - Widgets engine : A recent addition is the widget | | | | type, page size, character encoding and more and |
| engine. Widgets are small web applications | | | | graphics and style sheets can be toggled on/off |
| (multimedia, newsfeeds, games and more) that | | | | via our toolbars and shortcuts. |
| make the user desktop experience more fun. | | | | 8/ Speed, speed, speed ! |
| While some widgets can be very useful, we have | | | | Beyond the very recent speed-dial feature which |
| to say that others are just eye-candy gadgets, | | | | allows users to access to their favourite website |
| with the now unavoidable "chunky" appearance. | | | | faster, Opera has always been one of the |
| Although frankly, widgets can be found virtually | | | | sleekest web browsers ever and this still comes |
| everywhere these days. Many people have been | | | | true. On Windows, it is faster than Firefox, |
| using the excellent Rainmeter, Yahoo Widgets or | | | | whithout being pre-loaded in the system like |
| GDesklets for quite a long time now so it's not | | | | Internet Explorer. The memory usage - at 30 MB |
| really obvious to us why they would want to | | | | -is also slightly better than Firefox. |
| switch to Opera's widgets now. One last point : | | | | 9/ Conclusion : |
| widgets can be nice but can't compete with one | | | | Opera is still a remarkable web browser. It's |
| of Firefox biggest strengths : the incredible | | | | light-years ahead of Internet Explorer and still |
| number of useful (and sometimes less useful) | | | | beats Mozilla Firefox in several areas. One reason |
| extensions, which make Firefox the most | | | | to explain why Opera has still a very limited |
| extensible browser by far. | | | | market share relies on the fact that : |
| - Voice feature : it allows users to control Opera's | | | | - despite many years of successful development, |
| interface by talking and to have documents read | | | | many people don't know that it even exists and |
| aloud. It's a good idea in principle. However, it is still | | | | stick to Internet Explorer 6, despite the obvious |
| disappointing on version 9.2. And it is only offered | | | | limitations (no tabs, for instance) and, above all, |
| in the English language and runs only on Microsoft's | | | | the possible security risks (not that any web |
| Windows 2000 and XP ... | | | | browser could pretend to be 100% safe ...); |
| 3/ A complete web suite | | | | - it is still seen by many others as "the browser |
| Opera mail has a built-in e-mail program (simple | | | | with ads" or as a paid for software. |
| and efficient for casual users), news reader, | | | | - in the last three years, many web users have |
| mailing list organizer and RSS/Atom newsfeed | | | | switched to the more trendy Firefox, so the |
| reader. | | | | competition is getting harder and harder for |
| 4/ Security and privacy | | | | Opera. And Internet Explorer 7, a welcome |
| Opera web browser incorporates a strong pop-up | | | | improvement over the previous version, has just |
| filter, a content-blocker (to remove annoying ads), | | | | entered in the arena ... |
| and a fraud protection system, which can warn | | | | Unfortunately, Opera doesn't benefit from |
| users against web sites that try to steal personal | | | | Firefox's unique community spirit (even though it |
| information. The "delete private data" function is | | | | has a very devoted and active fan base), nor |
| very similar to the one incorporated in Firefox and | | | | Internet Explorer's advantage of being already |
| cookies can be easily controled from the | | | | pre-installed on every windows system on the |
| preference dialog. Opera remains one of the more | | | | planet, so its current position on the Desktop is |
| secure browsers on the market. | | | | quite limited, even though it's doing extremely well |
| 5/ Customization | | | | on mobile devices. |
| Like Firefox, it's possible to change the browser | | | | |