My browser since version 5.0
Written: Jun 10 '02 (Updated Jun 10 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Light & swift. The zooming tool is fantastic.
Cons: Can present layout problems with some Web pages.
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended for the computer enthusiast. Avoid it if you like things that are simple and work right away, in any situation, never having to bother about configuration.
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| shrodi's Full Review: Opera |
I saw that the more recent reviews of Opera were dating back to the version 5, so I thought I could give some new insights about it.
I have exactly 10 browsers/versions installed on my home computer (Netscape 1.1, 3.01, 4.7, 6.2 and 7PR1; MSIE 6.02; Mozilla 1.0; NeoPlanet 5.2; Opera 5.12 and 6.01), mainly for design purposes. My default browser is Opera 6.01.
My home computer is a PII 450MHz, 128MB RAM, running Windows 98 SE. I'm also using Opera at work on a PIII, 450MHz, 256MB RAM, Windows NT.
Boot speed
The first thing I'd like to say is that I noticed a difference in the boot speed for the two systems for Opera 6.01: on Windows NT, Opera runs almost instantly when invoked, while on my home computer it takes ages to appear to the screen. I don't have this problem with Opera 5.12, though. I suspect there is code in Opera 6.x optimized for Windows NT/2000/XP systems. Nevertheless, Opera 6.01 is my browser of choice, even on my home computer, for the reasons described below.
Why Opera?
Here are the main features I just love in Opera, that you don't get in MSIE nor in Netscape:
Zoom keys Just press the '+' and the '-' keys on the numeric keypad to instantly zoom in and out. It is actually my favorite toy on Opera: when I find myself on a Web page where fonts are very small, just press the '+' key as many times as you wish (10% zoom every stroke) and you make the fonts as large as you like! The pictures will grow as well, though, thus losing quality, but usually you will zoom for font size issues, not picture size issues...
Integrated browser windows You can make Opera open its browser windows inside the main Opera window. I find it quite useful for keeping my taskbar somewhat "cleaner". Tabs will then be shown in the "Opera task bar", allowing quick switching between pages. Opening a new browser window is made easy by clicking the appropriate icon in the Opera toolbar.
Integrated search field The Opera toolbar comes with an integrated search field allowing a direct search with 14 search engines. The only thing it lacks is the ability to show search results in a separate window, just like MSIE and Netscape 6.x+.
Keyboard shortcuts Opera has keyboard shortcuts for almost every single function. For "new" computer users, this could look cumbersome, but for experienced computer users who remember the mighty days of WordPerfect 4.2, this is Heaven... :)
What about security?
Of course, Opera being not as used and known as MSIE, it is less likely to get hacked (please go to www.windowsupdate.com to have MSIE patched regularly so you're less vulnerable using MSIE). You can also configure Opera security the way you like; what is quite fastidious is that there's no predefined security settings like in MSIE (like "low", "medium", "high", etc.) so you have to do everything yourself. The default settings nevertheless give something near to MSIE "medium" security setting.
Is anything bad with Opera?
Yes. The main thing that will probably bother most users is its inability to display some pages especially designed for MSIE and/or requiring some plugins, like ActiveX and others. Opera can use most plugins designed for Netscape, but you may need some computer skills to configure Opera properly (though Opera can automatically detect most plugins installed on your computer with the "Preferences/Multimedia/Find plugins" button). Opera won't have any problem running Java applets (see comments about Java in the Where do I get it? section below), nor Flash applications.
I found out that on some sites, you can actually get an accurate display by making the site believe you're using MSIE. Indeed, Opera 6.01 allows you to make it identify itself as being either Opera, Mozilla engine (3.0, 4.78, 5.0) or MSIE 5.0 (quickly set through another useful feature of Opera: Quick Preferences), and setting it to MSIE 5.0 can notably improve your browsing experience.
Another thing quite annoying is that Opera is not entirely free. It is adware unless you pay to get rid of the ads.
What about mail, Usenet and instant messaging?
Opera 6.01 have them all, but I haven't really tried them since I have other dedicated softwares for those tasks. At first glance, they all seem pretty good, but, again, it's a very limited "epinion"! ;)
Where do I get it?
http://www.opera.com. You can download it with or without Java. Advice: never download Java along with a software; instead, download and install the most current version of Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from Sun (java.sun.com) and make the software point to it once you have installed it. Often, you won't even have to do that since such softwares will usually automatically detect the JRE on your system (in Opera, you can go to Preferences/File types and set the appropriate Java plugin for the application/x-java-applet entry if it doesn't work).
Finally...
I understand that a lot of people will prefer to continue to use MSIE and Netscape, because it's not very funny to fall on pages where the layout is obviously not what it was intended to be, and where the use of some plugins can even prevent the display of any content at all, and then having to start another browser to get it right. But, again, Opera has some very interesting features that are, in my "epinion", worth the hassle. Very approximately, I would say that I have to switch to another browser maybe every 20 sites I visit, which is not that bad I think.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
shrodi
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Member: Eric Martel
Location: Sainte-Foy, Qc, Canada
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Allô! I'm a physics engineer, currently doing a master degree in bioinformatics.
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