Opera 20 - Another unhappy loyal supporter

lem729

lem729

I wouldn't disqualify Sexy Undo Close Tab for Control Z. I think it's pretty good, and I use it on my Opera 21. It has a lot of nice features. First control Z generally works (the glass isn't half-empty) with the one caveat (that if you're on the speed dial page, just go control shift T or open another page for control Z). It gives a running count that you can see on the face of the extension of all closed tabs, and it can count very high with no problem. You can set it to keep the closed tabs available for reopening, EVEN AFTER you close the browser. So close the browser, go back, and the closed tabs from the last time around are there for reopening if you want. And a single click on the icon for the extension, shows all the closed tabs in a drop-down list, making it easy to find and open the one you need with a mouse click. If you have a lot of closed tabs, there's even a search box to help you find the one you want.

On tab managing, I guess I didn't quite understand what you were looking for when you said: "Now the tabbing system will be worse, since if it has the tabbing system it will likely lack the mouse extension to actually navigate it." If you're referring to something like Mouse gestures, there's a Chrome extension called Smooth Gestures that has a lot of tab navigation. If you enlarge the pages in the softpedia article, you can see a lot of the gestures that it has.

http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Smooth-Gestures-Review-178409.shtml

Smooth Gestures is in the Chrome store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/smooth-gestures/lfkgmnnajiljnolcgolmmgnecgldgeld?hl=en

It has over 12000 downloads, and is rated 4 stars so people do seem to like it.

Anyway, good luck.

Deleted User

Deleted User

I'm rather shocked with what happened in this recent update to Opera, a browser which I've been using for years (heck, I even paid for v4, I believe it was).

No single X in the upper right corner seems possible at this time for the tabs. What was once a deeply flexible toolbar has become Chrome-like and frozen in place.

No Quick Preferences? Egad, that was one of the most winning attributes of Opera, for me.

I simply cannot manage scrolling and clicking through a SpeedDial equivalent of hundreds of bookmarks, as if we all must pile into a mobile browser way of acting on the desktop. Sure, this is obviously anticipating a path to touchscreens, but that's still a ways off for proper desktop systems, IMHO.

Certainly, I can go on, but complaining won't offer anything productive. I did want to offer that another long-time user is not catching up with this latest wave.

It's apparent that much work has gone into this release, but I don't need another Chrome-like browser and am slower with this new design. I'll go back to 12.x until this new codebase offers more flexibility. Good luck to others.

wader

lem729

lem729

@wader

I have an x in the right hand corner of my tabs, and I'm using Opera 21. I'm not sure why you don't, and I do.

And you say, you "cannot manage scrolling and clicking through a SpeedDial equivalent of hundreds of bookmarks." Why don't you put most of the bookmarks in your Personal Bookmarks Bar, which you enable in Opera Settings/Browser/User Interface, and choose, "Show the Bookmarks Bar." Now you can have in that personal bookmarks bar, folders within folders within folders ad infinitum. It should be great for organizing. And you can always add a Bookmark Manager Extension. I like Neater Bookmarks in the Chrome store (which I find very good), but there are others. You can use the Speed Dial, just to showcase those bookmarks you come back to all the time. And you do know, I'm sure, you can make folders on the speed dial, by dragging the thumbnail of one link on the speed dial, over the folder of a second link. With folders on the Speed Dial, you can showcase more there too.

The New Opera Settings are not that extensive -- only four categories -- Browser, Website, Privacy & Security, and Opera Help. Maybe there's why you don't have quick preferences. Just use the keyboard, Alt P, and you are immediately at settings/preferences.

I think it takes a little time to get used to the different features of Opera 21. My thought would be to yes, go back to Opera 12.x, but use both. Get a little practice with Opera 21, and it won't be so forbidding. Even come into to the forum here, and ask questions about Opera 21 (or Opera 12), if you need help or suggestions. The best of luck to you!

Deleted User

Deleted User

@wader
I have an x in the right hand corner of my tabs, and I'm using Opera 21. I'm not sure why you don't, and I do.

Sorry, I should have been more clear: I have always used a single X for closing each tab in the upper right corner of the Opera navigation bar. It used to be that we could turn off the per-tab X feature and Opera would instead provide the single X, itself. In more recent versions, I could add a button to the bar for such a feature (and far more) from places such as the Wiki:

http://operawiki.info/custombuttons

Yes, settings have been streamlined in ways, but turning On/Off Javascript, etc. takes some additional navigation into and then out of a Settings page beyond the simple 1-2 menu presses that I used to navigate.

Yes, I keep well-worn sites in my Speed-dial, but having nested views/folders is simply not how I work or search for sites of interest in most contexts from my saved links. I also tend to use a minimal toolbar approach and eschew use of a Bookmarks bar for maximum real estate - I'm far happier with quick menu pull-downs or panels that open/close for a quick task.

Even Firefox has Chrome-ized itself a bit in its v29, but I was able to get right back to my desired shortcuts and other efficiencies within 10 minutes of installing their latest. That's essentially what I was hoping for Opera, but this isn't the first time Opera has started with a certain way of doing things before building itself up on a new codebase, I suppose.

The new Opera browser is fast and sleek, so I hope that they can "open it up" to above (and other) possibilities over time.

wader

deld1ablo

deld1ablo

You can set it to keep the closed tabs available for reopening, EVEN AFTER you close the browser.
Its called not closing tabs. And history. Then again, since I am used to Opera not impacting performance, I tend to leave it permanently open on my computers.
Its sorta a non issue.

On tab managing
Right mouse + scroll wheel. Done.
Ctrl + Holding tab without changing tabs before its released is another.
There is imgur link there. If you don't understand what it is in the picture, please don't reply with anything stupid. No really.

Smooth Gestures
Useless gimmick to reimplent shit left lbm -> rmb, mouse movement + key to do stuff. Its bad. Its really bad. It has some use if the mouse has a good sensor, but thats it.

slarkki

slarkki

Opera 20+ series is complete crap. Pretty much all things that have made Opera good are gone. I have that plague on my laptop but using 12.xx in my main PC. Sometime after the updates stop coming to 12.xx it's probably time to switch.

Last time I made a switch I think it was from Netscape Navigator to Opera and I have been mostly happy even though there were a few rather unstable versions along the way. And that switch was made back on like.. 2003? Can't remember exactly. The new chosen path really makes Opera a very, very dead option. I'm guessing the ONLY thing they care about now is mobile phones and they want to build a generic version around that.

lem729

lem729

@wader

I also tend to use a minimal toolbar approach and eschew use of a Bookmarks bar for maximum real estate - I'm far happier with quick menu pull-downs or panels that open/close for a quick task.>

I like a minimal toolbar approach. You don't need a permanently open Bookmarks bar in Opera 21. Get a bookmarks manager extension like Neater Bookmarks, that gives you a drop down of the bookmarks, when you click on the extension icon. As for the Personal bookmarks bar, just go alt P, and take the dot out of show the Bookmarks. Now you have a minimal interface. If you worry about making a bookmark, use the Opera extension, Add Bookmark, which puts a star in the address bar to make the bookmark, if you want. Or it's easy to put the bookmarks bar back for an instant if you need it -- just Alt P and put the dot back in. It's practically a toggle. Alt P and take it out. Alt P and put it back for the moment you want to see it. Remember, just clicking on the icon for the bookmark manager extension lets you see the vertical bookmarks in a drop-down vertical display. Most of the time that's all you need.

jito463

jito463

Most of the time that's all you need.

Correction, that may be all you need, that does not mean it applies to everyone.

lem729

lem729

Most of the time that's all you need.

Correction, that may be all you need, that does not mean it applies to everyone.

I was addressing Wader, who said he wants a minimal interface. You can certainly have the Bookmarks bar present all the time if you choose. But there is an option not to, because it's easy enough to see the bookmarks, by just clicking on the icon for the bookmarks manager extension (Neater Bookmarks) and getting the vertical display of the bookmarks any time you want.

Deleted User

Deleted User

You don't need a permanently open Bookmarks bar in Opera 21. Get a bookmarks manager extension like Neater Bookmarks, that gives you a drop down of the bookmarks, when you click on the extension icon. As for the Personal bookmarks bar

Ah, I haven't done much exploring of the Chrome store - Neater Bookmarks is a nice extensions, thanks.

wader

lem729

lem729

It's great. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/neater-bookmarks/ofgjggbjanlhbgaemjbkiegeebmccifi?hl=en

alfster

alfster

I had totally forgotten about the 'new' Chrome based Opera. I read all the stuff about the Beta version and basically it would seem all the same complaints are still there - especially the lack of text-cascading bookmarking with the replacement by the speed dial set-up which looks so laborious and unwieldy I'm not even going there - I do not need pretty pictures to go to favourited sites - in fact it is probably the worst method I could imagine.

Lots of people saying that there are plenty of extensions to download to get old functionality back is just mind-bogglingly crazy: no software developer worth their salt would remove useful functionality and then have 3rd party extensions fill the gaps.

The problem with software development these days is that they have been blinded by the shiny new visuals rather than stopping and working out what a browser should be doing...which is what Opera 12 did very well...a darn shame they could not have kept developing that version.

Having seen the Youtube video of the new one I does not grab me...although with all the snap zooms and pans across the screen I have no real idea what it can do apart from being more suited for touch screens.

lem729

lem729

Lots of people saying that there are plenty of extensions to download to get old functionality back is just mind-bogglingly crazy: no software developer worth their salt would remove useful functionality and then have 3rd party extensions fill the gaps.>

i don't at all agree with ypur premise. Is tab stacking functionality? It's nice, but not everyone needs it. The same with a sidebar. Everybody's view differs. I didn't need many of the features others deem functionality. On some things, I'm sure I would like more in the native browser -- like more bookmark manager type functionality, including import and export features (I'm hoping it will come). But for sure, it is not at all crazy to look to extensions to get the some of the functionality that a person may want. This "no software developer worth their salt line" is just a line in a post. It's way too general. The new Opera did not purposely eliminate functionality. It switched browser engines out of necessity (to get a significant speed increase, and have a browser up-to-date enough to access sites, the old browser was failing at), and had to start from scratch reprogramming. And since reprogramming takes time and financial resources (and since putting all of the stuff from the old browser in the new wasn't feasible (financially or otherwise) or could affect performance, the concept has changed. Not only the complexity of reprogramming dictates that, but economics also in providing a free browser. The new concept is a fast, minimalist basic browser (not cluttered by everyone's wish-list of functionality) with yes -- for sure -- extensions to fill individual needs. Get used to it ;). The ability to use a lot more extensions than the old browser every could is a huge plus.

exitstation

exitstation

What a disapointment!

All the features that were the reason I became a loyal Opera user for over a decade have been replaced with meaningless gadgets.

What features? Well all those Opera had and removed with version 20 to suck up to new users probably those that are happy enough to use Chrome.

Yeah, that's it! Opera just became as trivial and useless as Google Chrome.

Hopefully I can find a version 12. If not, then it's goodbye Opera

lem729

lem729

I can't disagree with you more strongly. The new Opera has many fine features, including more speed, a Super Speed dial, the Discover feature, access to many many more extensions. Meaningless gadgets. Lol. No need to argue there. If I like pistachio ice cream, you like Rum Butter. Opera still makes Opera 12 available on its website. So go there and take a look. Happy browsing.

blackbird71

blackbird71

I can't disagree with you more strongly. The new Opera has many fine features, including more speed, a Super Speed dial, the Discover feature, access to many many more extensions. Meaningless gadgets. Lol. No need to argue there. If I like pistachio ice cream, you like Rum Butter. Opera still makes Opera 12 available on its website. So go there and take a look. Happy browsing.

Speed is not a feature, it's a characteristic or attribute. And one browser's speed vs. other browsers' speeds is constantly changing, a fact one realizes if they've at all watched the various speed-test site results over more than a few months, let alone years.

IMO, Discover is far less of an "essential" native feature to a browser than any of a host of real features now natively missing in Blink Opera... previewing other sites' content ought to be a "summary" website or home-page feature, not a browser feature. Certainly some folks will like Discover and it probably gains Opera click-count revenue, but it also represents design effort that did not go into other, more browser-relevant, features.

User designation of his own engine choice (whatever that may be) as a persistent default search engine ought to be a foundational feature of a browser... searching is something central to almost every user, and ought to be under his full control. For over a year, we've heard it's a "security issue"... yet it's apparently not for other browser makers.

"Access to many many more extensions" now indeed has relevance, primarily because the associated "features" are now natively missing in Blink Opera. What you're asserting is precisely the "less is more" argument of competing browsers that Opera itself mocked for years. Extensions are inherently unstable in the grand scheme of things when compared with native features, unless the browser maker himself is also making/proof-testing those extensions. As it now stands, extensions are usually not developed by people "on the inside" of the various idiosyncracies of the browser engines (which thus too often causes hiccups, weird behavior, or incomplete performance as compared with native features), and extensions are far too often unpredictably broken by various of the now-frequent browser updates... updates which the average user is unable to block.

@lem729, of course you have every right to strongly disagree. But please understand that there is a host of dissatisfied 'Old Opera' users 'out here' who nevertheless don't see a browser in the same terms as you do (or apparently as the current Opera developers do). Most of such users view a good browser as natively a highly configurable tool, not merely an entry-level portal for viewing media-sites which has to be manually patched with extensions for each "feature" that experienced user instinct and experience show ought to be natively part of a good browser. To be highly configurable, the browser should possess the features in the first place.

I'll grant that such negative user feedback is seemingly making little impact on Opera's design thrusts, and probably won't in days to come. But that doesn't negate the validity of the feedback or the reasoning behind it.

A Former User

User designation of his own engine choice (whatever that may be) as a persistent default search engine ought to be a foundational feature of a browser... searching is something central to almost every user, and ought to be under his full control. For over a year, we've heard it's a "security issue"... yet it's apparently not for other browser makers.
Yes it is. Malware can install itself as search engine and set itself as default in all browsers but IE (which has a checkbox to disallow third-party apps from changing the default search engine).

lem729

lem729

But please understand that there is a host of dissatisfied 'Old Opera' users 'out here' who nevertheless don't see a browser in the same terms as you do (or apparently as the current Opera developers do). Most of such users view a good browser as natively a highly configurable tool, not merely an entry-level portal for viewing media-sites which has to be manually patched with extensions>

@blackbird71, I find intriguing what you claim as to the dissatisfied user's view of a good browser. You claim it's configurability. That's a nice word. Configurable to what end? Shall tabs be able to run on the left side of the browser, the right side, the bottom, upside down. And when you close a tab, what tab should show next (the one to the left of it, the one to the right of it, the one most frequently used, etc. And shall we configure side-panels. And what side of the browser shall the panel show on -- the left? the right? How about floating? Can we ask -- lol -- demand of the developer of this free browser, that he build something able to dance through an infinite number of hoops at the behest of a small group of power users. Why some even have 4000 bookmarks, and want Opera to be able to address how to handle that in an import vehicle. Must Opera provide a vehicle where the user can pin multiple groups of tabs, stack them, group them. I could go on forever with configuration features. "Greater configurability" is a nice phrase that means something different to everybody. It's sounds good. But really there's no end to where it leads.

To the extent greater configurability is important, the preferred vehicle for it, in my humble opinion, needs to be via extension. It's Firefox's way. Chrome's way. And now Opera's. Let me burden the performance of my browser with my wants. But you shouldn't burden my browser with yours. If we insist that this uber-configurability be built into the native (let me repeat, "free") browser, it's pie-in-the-sky impractical. It's almost -- dare I say it -- short-sighted and . . . , (this never ending push for more) selfish. Why? Because the demands of a few, will leave many users with a browser with a lot that they don't at all need or want, affecting performance. For sure! You can't have a browser jumping through it's infinite number of configurability hoops for nothing. Whether in the process, Opera would go bankrupt or not, someone will have to pay the piper.

"Access to many many more extensions" now indeed has relevance, primarily because the associated "features" are now natively missing in Blink Opera. What you're asserting is precisely the "less is more" argument>

Not at all, my friend My argument is that MORE IS MORE. Believe me, Opera Blink offers more! The Speed Dial with folders is more (far more) AND better than what Opera Presto offered in a Speed Dial. Stash is more. Discover is more. And the ability to utilize a hugely greater number of extensions is also far more. There are a near infinite number of configurability permutations via the extension route, that were not available before. Maybe all the extensions aren't there right now. Opera Blink cannot instantly recapture what people had in Opera Presto, but it can provide features that the users of Opera Presto could never have dreamed of. And as third party developers continue to improve, the configuration possibilities can only be enhanced. And what of that other browser vehicle? -- the put every power users' wish list of features into the browser. And with each new release, the users kept asking -- in the name of innovation -- for more in the native/basic "free" browser. Doesn't this sound a bit like all of the people who think there's no end to what Government can provide for free, and that there is no cost to the ability of society to function adequately? Isn't it a metaphor for the collapse of Western civilization (Forgive me a little humor). The extension vehicle for configurability in a free browser is a far better vehicle. Opera Presto was at a dead end. It had nowhere to go.

Deleted User

Deleted User

@lem729: You're a great guy! Keep up the good work in these forums. I have to admit that I've grown weary of the whining and therefore seldom read the forums as I once did. But today I decided to take a look and there you are... right on the money. You could not be more correct in your assessment. The so-called more configurable nature of Presto simply made it a far more difficult browser to keep abreast of constant change. And the fact that a large number of built-in features were unknown and in many cases unimportant to users (hence the fact that Opera was always under 3% of the user population) demonstrates that it is an irrelevant point. Firefox and Chrome are the two most popular browsers and for very good reason: extensions. Opera has awakened to that simple fact. Those geek users who loved the Presto suite form an exceedingly small group of users overall. Opera has made the correct decision and will undoubtedly be more successful as a result. What becomes of the disgruntled group is of relatively little importance. They can't remain with Presto forever so they'll be forced at some point to adopt one of the "extension" using browsers. Hopefully by then they will have awakened and smelled the coffee as it were.

blackbird71

blackbird71

But please understand that there is a host of dissatisfied 'Old Opera' users 'out here' who nevertheless don't see a browser in the same terms as you do (or apparently as the current Opera developers do). Most of such users view a good browser as natively a highly configurable tool, not merely an entry-level portal for viewing media-sites which has to be manually patched with extensions>

@blackbird71, I find intriguing what you claim as to the dissatisfied user's view of a good browser. You claim it's configurability. That's a nice word. Configurable to what end? ...

Configurable to the extent that control of significant, discrete functionality can be individually applied to a native toolbar (meaningful buttons that can be customized for what a user needs), immediately accessible by the user. Configurable to the extent that the user is natively in full control of 'his' browser, its search engines, its downloading, and its defaults. Configurable to the extent that a user can fully control what gets downloaded onto his computer and when, in terms of browser "updates". Configurable to the extent that a user can import/export personal data (like bookmarks) directly from/to competitors' browsers (without having to first install a third browser, be it Chrome or Opera12). Configurable to the extent that bar displays can be made to show icons, custom text, or both. Configurable to the extent... well... I could go on and on, without ever mentioning the 'cosmetic' things to which you refer like panels or tabs and where/how they're able to be displayed on the screen. Presto Opera had all of this configurability. Blink Opera has little or none of it.

I agree that a few of these elements can be obtained via extensions, in both Blink Opera and competitor browsers... and I've indeed used them. From personal experience, I assert such extensions, even where available, are usually measurably inferior to the performance experienced natively within an integrated browser like Presto Opera. And they break... such that each and every browser update presents a user with a potential trial-by-fire to find out which of his multiple extensions have now been broken, and in what areas... followed by a quest (often unfruitful) for a replacement extension that works similarly - along with an entirely new learning curve and different limitations, even if the user finds an alternate. That is a decidedly inferior user experience when compared with a well-designed, integrated browser.

Your comment about configurability causing a browser to jump through an infinite number of hoops to the detriment of performance is not only exaggerated, it is outright wrong with regard to how good code actually works. Admittedly, it takes more effort and insight to design-in a specific hook or access point, but unless the particular option is actually exercised, the specific code/resource cost is microscopic. Unless, of course, the basic engine architecture simply doesn't support it... and that implies that a poor choice of engines has been made and/or the designers lack the necessary creative horsepower or resources to implement the hook or access point.

Indeed, the Blink Opera browser is free (as are all browsers currently). Indeed, users can instead opt for an increasingly obsolete Opera 12.x version... or even go elsewhere to a competitor. But none of that changes or reduces the limitations of basic configurability of the browser that is currently Blink Opera. And its the comparison of that Blink Opera browser with the configurability of versions which have been issued by Opera in past years that has set so many users on edge. Think about it for a moment... it's been a year of successive Blink Opera versions, yet the complaints keep coming. People who bother to come here and express negative experiences with Blink Opera can certainly be dismissed as so many whiners and complainers. But consider that they have bothered to make an effort to register and post here at all, that they have made some very strong points, and that they represent a major part of Opera's previous core user base. They and their points can be ignored, but in so doing, Opera risks becoming just another for-the-masses browser in a marketplace dominated with far more well-financed, larger-design-base browsers whose only distinctives are the color of the borders or the number of Speed Dials or other gee-gaws they happen to offer in any given version.