Just wondering why you use the current Opera over other browsers
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treego last edited by
If you could give me a few reasons why you prefer the current Opera (22 Final, 23 Next, 24 Developer) over other browsers, I'd love to hear it. I'm trying to be impartial and examine all the advantages/disadvantages of using Opera in its current state. Thank you.
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Deleted User last edited by
I use it for the speed. I've managed to incorporate my notes and bookmarks into it, in a usable fashion and have most of the mouse and rocker gestures I used in 12.17. I need very few extensions to do this. I use lastpass, x-notifier for webmail, adguard for blocking ads, Opera internal pages, neater bookmarks from chrome, and the opera notes extension someone developed awhile back. It's as close to what 12.17 gave me til future improvements are made.
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lem729 last edited by
I think Opera 22 is cutting edge fast. I had tried Chrome, and it seems to me that the demands on my computer seem less with Opera. In my perception, Opera 22 is faster than Firefox, and about the same speed as Chrome. I like the Speed Dial (with folders) in the new Opera very much. It's super, and I don't think any of the other browsers offers anything nearly as polished/feature rich, and certainly not in the native browser. Internet Explorer really doesn't offer a Speed Dial. I love the ways to create beautiful art with the Speed Dial. I also use the Discover feature which is unique, and an in-the-browser portal to huge areas of the world, and many subject interests, all through essentially one modest button.
Opera 22 has a minimalist design, that I think looks super attractive. I hide the personal bookmarks address bar, so I have most of the browser real estate for viewing web pages. I definitley prefer the appearance of Opera. It's . . . well, sexier
than the opposition browsers. On use of extensions, because Opera 22 can use all of the Chrome extensions (and has extensions in its own store too), it's extension rich now with delightful possibilities. Maybe not as many as Firefox, but enough to keep me more than happy.And even if it were close, in competition for me with another browser, I trust Opera more in building a good browser, because I've been with Opera for almost 10 years. I realize that the Opera browser is not just for now, but is in a state of becoming. In that regard, I'm impressed with what Opera did with its Chrome for Ipad -- cutting edge awesome design -- and I think the company is able to think outside of the traditional box (and certainly has done with Coast for Ipad). In my view, that bodes well for the future, for desktop and mobile Opera. Also, the history of Opera in making the desktop browser -- first major browser with tabs, first speed dial, and other breakthroughs -- some of them in Presto (like the wonderful notes feature, waste paper basket, magic wand, etc) -- helps me trust the company more, even onto Opera 22 with its Speed Dial with folders, Stash, Turbo Mode, Discover feature..
I know that Opera has had to reprogram everything with its switch from Opera Presto to Opera Blink, so some of the features aren't totally there yet, but even without all of the features, I prefer this browser more. And I do think that more will come that will make people happy.
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treego last edited by
Thanks guys for the thoughtful responses here so far.
I'll have more to say later in this thread; for now, though, I agree with virtually everything you're saying lem29.
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Deleted User last edited by
lem29, that was a great list and I also agree with it. I'm still struggling with coming to terms, however, with the size of the tool bar buttons but I know that eventually this will also be resolved. All in all, Opera is a company that we can trust to do the right thing and I'm standing by them.
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drewfx last edited by
I use it as my second "compatibility" browser alongside 12.17.
It does seem to be both fast and compatible, and if they restore some more of the old features over time I expect I will use it more and more.
Most of the complaints I have is that it's missing stuff from 12.17 that I loved, but I think that's true of all the other browsers too.
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treego last edited by
The closest competition to Opera for me right now is Palemoon. Palemoon is very good and extensible. Opera seems a bit quicker than Palemoon, however, for me.
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nelsonkeung2000 last edited by
if you are using opera 22, there is no reason to keep using it, because it basically can,t do anything!!!, then you will try to install the chrome plug-in in the your 22, soon you will realize you better switch to chrome , on the other hand , if you are using 12, you don,t need a damn plug-in to satisfy your need , and you have the best interface among all browser!!!
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A Former User last edited by admin
Read my Opera vs. Chrome comparison. I'll give more practical examples below.
Speed Dial - I use it for all my bookmarking and "sessions" needs. E.g. I right-click the tab bar and select "Save as Speed Dial folder", then Opera will create a folder with all the open tabs in that window for me. When I need to access the saved pages, I just type any part of the URL or title in the address field, or I can use the search field at the SD's top right and it'll display all the matches in the thumbnails form so I can access/edit/delete them easily, or I can also browse them manually opening the folders and glancing at the thumbnails and managing them quickly by dragging and dropping (I used the original sessions feature in Opera 12 and while it was useful it was bad because of the lack of that ability to manage them easily).
I know that a classic bookmarks manager would be capable of the same things, including more levels of sub-folders, but even with the limitation of 1-level folders in Speed Dial with my organization it already fits my needs very well so I don't need them. Also, while the bookmarks manager lists items in favicon + title text, the Speed Dial displays the thumbnails of the pages so it's a thousand times easier to recognize the saved pages when browsing them. When I need to dump a page to read later I put it in a temporary Speed Dial folder or out of my way in the Stash.Search with in the context menu - You're reading text a page then comes across a term you'd like to search. In the other most popular browsers they'll always send you to your default search engine, but in Opera you can chose from any of your search engines. That means I can select text, right-click and in search with menu I can search the selected text in Wikipedia, a dictionary website, in online shopping sites, an alternative search engine, movies, etc... It's much more powerful and comfortable than any other browsers and no plug-in is required for this (nor for any other things I'm citing here).
Shortcuts - there are additional shortcuts in Opera like Paste&Go (Ctrl+Shift+V) that'll work at any moment you want to go to URL or search what's in the clipboard. You don't even need to focus the address field (F8) for it to work, as long as the focus isn't in a text field in a page it'll work. In Chrome and Firefox you'd need to install an extension just for that (crazy). There are also the integrated mouse and rocker gestures and advanced keyboard shortcuts. Some can be added/edited, but not via the browser GUI.
TAB cycles only through form elements - Something so small but that makes all the difference... When you press TAB when visiting a page, instead of highlighting all the links in the page like other browsers, Opera will only focus form elements like text fields, buttons and checkboxes. This is very useful when filling forms and also generally when you press TAB 1 or 2 times after first accessing a page it'll put the focus in the search or other important field of that page instantly, you can painlessly start the query you want.
Recently closed pages - All of them are available for you to reopen in the main menu. While Chrome will show only the ~10 most recent, and IE requires that you open a new tab just to access this list. I'd often get frustrated when I tested Chrome and wanted to reopen a tab far than 10 entries in the list and discovering I couldn't. Opera does it much better.
Stash may be more useful for some people than it's for me, I'll explain - Instead of micromanaging, editing entries' titles, remembering them, etc, you just send a page there and Opera will index the page's content text so you can go there and type any part of the text of a page you recall to search for it, with even bigger thumbnails for recognition.
See this post about bookmarks (and Speed Dial and Stash) from RuarĂ: http://ruario.ghost.io/2014/03/18/bookmarks/The more you use it you'll see that the argument it's equal to Chrome is laughable and uninformed. It's not worth switching to Chrome at all, or to any other browser IMO.
Yes I know it lacks a classic bookmarks manager (although it already has the bookmarks bar which is enough for many people according to my real life and online "screenshot sharing" observation), but as you can see I don't need one.
Sync is coming... The ability to define our own custom search engines as default: they want to allow that after they implement an anti-hijacking method (I use Bing myself because that's the only alternative with good enough results to rival Google, but other people can use keywords or workarounds posted in these forums to use DDG, Start Page, Ixquick, etc).So... What's the point of using other browsers, I ask...
