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