The impending demise of Opera?
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nightmaresoul last edited by
I have been with Opera for....a long time I would like to be able to be specific, but alas I know it was before Windows Vista existed, but little remains in my memory of that point. I Have forced friends and family to download it and use it. Because frankly I loved each version of up through Opera 12.16. As a browser it was unparalleled in ability and customization. Extensions could in fact be helpful in 12.16 but were not necessary to use it. I have opera 20 installed as well as Opera 12.16 still, yet I touch 20 very little. Things that I would love to see Opera do which I know they can do.
1.Bring back the ability to have a menu bar if a user wants it.
1 a.Bookmarks bring them back.
2.Bring back Content Blocker.
3.Allow customization of the browser, sure the out of the box slick look could be native.
4.Be OPERA, Not Google, and Not Microsoft. Opera has been, up till the travesty that was 15 to present, the best browser on the market.
5.Focus on being functional over pretty, if you give the users the ability and they will make it pretty.
6.You want to know what customizations people want added look at the extensions being made for the current travesty, and anything that is outside of what was in 12.16 might be worth looking into as an extension.
7.Remember your community loves you and wants you to succeed.So as someone who has been with Opera through many long years, I ask you Opera come back to your users.
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lem729 last edited by
nightmaresoul, I'm confused on your making the bookmarks issue your first priority (in your list). Opera has the ability for bookmarks in the personal bookmarks toolbar, and the speed dial, where with folders you can put tons and tons of stuff. It's incredible what you can do with those folders. It has Stash too. And finally some very reasonable bookmarks manager extensions in the Opera and Chrome stores. That is not just plenty. It's an abundance of riches I don't understand this complaining about bookmarks, other than the importing issue (it's a bit confusing how to move from other browsers to Opera and preserve bookmarks Opera would be smart to: (1) make simplifying the process of moving bookmarks from another browser (Chrome, IE, Firefox, etc.) a top priority), and (2) syncing Opera blink bookmarks and other essential parts of one's profile to the cloud. This would obviate the need for those concerned to constantly be saving one's profile.
On bringing back the content blocker (by which I assume you mean the ad blocker), well, why? I'm using for extensions from the Opera store (1) Adblock plus and (2) Discover, and the ads don't have a chance. Discover adds to the ad-blocking capability of adblock plus. Together, it's like calling in a top flight exterminator
and pity the poor ad-roaches.I have no problem with the other comments. I just think there are two schools of thought here, reflective of those who love the New Opera, and the Power users who don't. I don't want Opera slowed down with all that extra stuff. I prefer Opera "fast, mean and lean." The other features, if they come via extension, can slow down -- smile -- the browser of those who want them. And yes, improve the customization of those who want them. Everything has its costs. Usually, there is no free ride. And certainly not in a free browser.
I think Opera (and call me an optimist, if you will . . .) will find a unique place, distinguishing it from Chrome, and fill a need. It will present a better, more innovative browser than Chrome (with whom it shares the blink engine). It already has the Speed Dial (with folders), Stash, Discover, Off Road mode, which do some of that distinguishing.
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lem729 last edited by
I made a mistake in the post above. I'm using for adblockers: (1) AdBlock plus, and (2) Disconnect [not Discover] both available in the Opera store, and as I note above, they work in tandem really well.
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nightmaresoul last edited by
Lem729, I apologize the preview kinda garbled my list.
1.Bring back the ability to have a menu bar if a user wants it.
1a.Bookmarks bring them back.2.Bring back Content Blocker.
3.Allow customization of the browser, sure the out of the box slick look could be native.
4.Be OPERA, Not Google, and Not Microsoft. Opera has been, up till the travesty that was 15 to present, the best browser on the market.
5.Focus on being functional over pretty, if you give the users the ability and they will make it pretty.
6.You want to know what customizations people want added look at the extensions being made for the current travesty, and anything that is outside of what was in 12.16 might be worth looking into as an extension.
7.Remember your community loves you and wants you to succeed.
As for the bookmarks I have a few seperate extensions hooked into 20 presently to allow me to import my bookmarks so far they make using them far less efficient or useful. The bookmarks tool-bar however well how to explain the problem with that. The Tool-bar would be inadequate for the 1500 sites I have bookmarked and organized. As for the new pimped out Speed dial that I admit I was not aware of and may have to take a look as to how its managed to see if it can be a viable alternative.
As for the Content Blocker it worked as an adblocker but it allowed the disabling of advertisements or unwelcome content on any page from any server and also prevented malware from being uploaded into the temp files. I have tried a variety of adblockers and most of the ones I have tried lack the power & control of the content blocker.
As for me I am an old power user who likes the power and abilities of 12.16, I doubt that Opera could not engineer Opera 12.16's abilities into the Chromium and Blink systems, but that it may take time, and I am hopeful that they will.
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lem729 last edited by
I agree -- from what I've read in the forum here -- that, as I previously noted, the importing of bookmarks from other browsers definitely needs work. You could easily put your 100 most common/used sites -- maybe more -- on the speed dial. The key is to break up the speed dial into categories. A folder with a lot of links for each category. (I assume you know how to create the speed dial folder -- by dragging one speed dial site on top of another. Please realize that since you have 1500 bookmarks, I can't speak as easily to the issue, because I don't have near that number. I can imagine, but cannot fully appreciate your problem. I use the extension Tidy Bookmarks in Chrome. Now with that bookmarks manager, you can put folders within folders, so if your 1500 bookmarks fit in a discrete number of initial folders -- let's say 40 -- and then you had new categories (folders) within each folder-- (and then more folders in them) you might be able to organize something with it. What I'm wondering is what you are asking for in a bookmark manager. Let's take a look at the Tidy Bookmarks extension for a moment. You can have a long vertical display of items or folders, you can create folders within folders (and I'm assuming, go deeper than that -- folders within the folders within the folders, etc.) So you can organize a lot with it. And you can set it up alphabetically. It may not be perfect, but what features beyond what I have just described for the Tidy Bookmarks extension were there in the Opera Bookmarks manager that you need so badly. Sometimes, the problem is more adjusting to change -- and you could manage
-- if you put a bit of energy into it. Although, I must admit -- smile -- 1500 bookmarks is a lot.Now I haven't explored the other bookmarks manager extensions (since Tidy Bookmarks meets my immediate need), so I don't know if they are better or worse. There may well be better bookmark managers in the Opera or Chrome store (for extensions).
On your Content Blocker issue, did you explore AdBlock Plus AND Disconnect. Those are two separate extensions, available in the Opera extension store. When I use them together, the effect is quite a bit stronger than just AdBlock plus.
Good luck!
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nightmaresoul last edited by
Well Topical Folders on 12.16 I have set into 9 main folders with sub-folders underneath them and then of course some free floating radicals outside the folders above and below. So that might be a viable alternative at least for leisurely hunting . Although Somehow I see that slowing down the Speed dials preview system massively. As for the applications from 12.16 that are needed sounds like a vast majority are in Tidy, although renaming and re-description of sites, Alphabetically works for me although 12.16 also had arrange by date added, visited, description, address, nick name or your own set order, as well it also had the addition of separators to help define if you will sub sections in a long list that were not numerous enough for their own to merit a folder. It was also included in the browser not as an addition.
I have not tried adblock Plus and disconnect but I may load them in just to see how they work out.
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lem729 last edited by
On Extensions, Tidy Bookmarks is not as good as What Opera had, but -- being positive here -- the extensions could well get better. Tidy Bookmarks is, at least, reasonable. I haven't tried all of the extensions for a bookmark manager. Some may have more than Tidy Bookmarks in terms of arranging the order.
You might want to check out the FAQ on the Disconnect Website. They seem to be doing quite a lot that is positive in terms of privacy. And definitely, Disconnect with Adblock Plus is quite a duo.
Also the extension Disconnect Search (in the Chrome store) is really good. That is separate from the Disconnect extension that I have mentioned to you in connect with adblocking.
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nightmaresoul last edited by
Also it seems Tidy Bookmarks not available in Operas extension list on site unless your looking for it in Spanish o.O. Anyhow I hope that Opera will re-invigorate some of the beauty and majesty they had in 12.16 into Opera 21.
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lem729 last edited by
It's in the Chrome Store. Tidy Bookmarks for Chrome.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/Tidy Bookmarks?hl=en-US
[It was once in the Opera store. For some reason it's not there in the Opera store] I assume you know how to get the Chrome Extension. All you need is the Opera Extension, "Download Chrome Extension" to get it.
Keep in mind that some features of Opera 20 are better than ever was in Opera 12.16. And then there are a number of memorable features in Opera 12.16, which may be, as Thomas Wolfe once said: "lost and by the wind grieved."
But "beauty and majesty" are important. I am with you there . . . And one can always improve on things.
Even if by extension!!!! -
Deleted User last edited by
Let's see if I can add anything of value:
First, I agree with most of the sentiment of the OP.
To specify:
- searching for addons is a pain. Opera is not my hobby. Main reason I always stayed away from Firefox (apart from the ugliness). For me, this is true for every game and application. Technically, addon systems are brilliant and beautiful. From a user experience perspective, "DEFAULTS MATTER".
- user control is important. Main point: In Opera 12.16 I can turn off Javascript at will to download images from the web. Or copy text. Don't mess with me with javascript content blockers. I will rip your copyrighted material from your bloody chest :p.
- mouse gestures are pretty useful.
- the persistent tab management of Opera 12 is brilliant although tab grouping didn't seem to work very well. I would never use anything other than Opera 12 for persistent sessions, although the Stash feature seems useful to me.
- I like custom search fields. I never memorized custom search keys (apart from "g" for Google) but I added custom search fields for a few dictionaries. The interface to do this was very unfriendly. I'm sure very few people ever did it. A regular user cannot analyse a web page to discern the search query used by some form.
Now to me the most important thing:
/Chrome style tabs are not useful to me for creating and maintaining any form of persistent session. Chrome tabs are expendable. I do not invest any thought in them and I don't care whether I lose them or not. This is fine for casual browsing (on my netbook I do not use Opera 12) but any serious user will require better session support. Most people are not serious users. Most people are casual browsers. Most people are not trying to get real work done on a computer. Something that requires a better tool./
The second most important thing:
/I need my tabs to be at the bottom of the screen. There is a reason every single operating system puts context-switching elements (the task bar) at the bottom or left side of the screen. Tab switching is also context-switching. So we are talking about a feature that gets split in two for no apparent reason. A computer user is always looking more at the bottom than the top. For instance, my cursor is currently at the bottom of this text. Western people write from left-to-right and from top-to-bottom. We're always moving down, not up.
Chrome "tabs at the top" makes sense because it delineates (provides an edge) to the body of the window, as there are very few other elements (only an address bar with some controls). My Opera 12 contains an empty title bar at the top. A waste of screen real estate, perhaps. And the new Opera definitely looks pretty. But it doesn't look efficient. It doesn't look powerful. It doesn't look like I will have a great time working with it./
The point about Ctrl-Tab is characteristic. Ctrl-Tab sequentially cycling through tabs is indeed, completely useless.
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Anyway I can go on and on. The point is that the old Opera was a Power Mac and the new Opera is a Mac Mini.
And this "Mac Mini" is at least thrice as fast as Chrome on this netbook. Using this netbook is suddenly a pleasant experience. I thought Chrome would be a fast browser. New Opera is way faster.
Only thing I want to say:
- I think using bookmarks is a thing of the past. I think Stash is a good idea. I think Stash could be even better than persistent tabs. These days I even use Google search to open links I have bookmarks of. So I don't know about that. Bookmark management has always been a chore. Perhaps one day I will write a non-centralized, user controlled version of Delicious. I believe bookmarks should be something managed not by a browser, but by something else. Something that is also shared among devices. If I ever take up programming again, I am going to work on that.
My vision for the future is localized platforms that are globally developed. The software will be universal and free, but the material foundation (actual systems) will be run as autonomous entities interfacing with other autonomous entities.
So far, so long.
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Deleted User last edited by
Oh, great, this forum doesn't even work well with the New Opera :p.
My whitelines are not preserved, and I cannot edit my post.
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A Former User last edited by
I came here because i just found out there's no "open" context menu, so technically i have to open on new tab, close the previous tab and rinse repeat to all those sites that do so. good!!!
Is your left mouse button broken? -
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A Former User last edited by
right is right for the context menu, but use left click to open a link in the current tab, so there is no need to open a new tab and close the current one.
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linuxmint7 last edited by
@elvennoia means there is no 'Open with' context menu entry in Opera Blink, like there was in Opera Presto.
I'm pretty sure his/her left and right mouse buttons are working fine.
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A Former User last edited by
Are you sure ?
Yes, he/she clearly mentions dealing with tabs (not with different browsers). -
lem729 last edited by
I did notice where Chrookmarks in the Chrome store is a bookmark manager that lets you organize your bookmarks alphabetically and chronologically, or so one of the commenters on the app says. I haven't tried it, but it looks like a possibility for you if you want more than just organizing alphabetically.
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werewolf last edited by
@nightmaresoul,
I did notice where Chrookmarks in the Chrome store is a bookmark manager that lets you organize your bookmarks alphabetically and chronologically, or so one of the commenters on the app says. I haven't tried it, but it looks like a possibility for you if you want more than just organizing alphabetically.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrookmarks-chrome-bookma/kcdheengilgkagjehknnnofigbmlnnfj?hl=en-USI just want a bookmark panel that STAYS OPEN on the left side of my screen, like Opera 12 and previous had, and like Firefox still has.
