Why Use Opera?
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A Former User last edited by
Probably for nostalgia's sake. I began using Opera in 1999 and loved its many customizations. When it switched to the chromium engine it was as though a spike had been driven through its heart. I struggled to continue using it (played around with Vivaldi for a while but never developed the same feel since it too is based on chromium) but when it was purchased by a Chinese consortium that was pretty much the last straw. I only use Opera on rare occasions now and certainly not for anything related to finances or government related. issues. I keep hoping for a miracle that it will somehow revert to Norwegian ownership and be able to recover its Presto roots but I know that will never happen.
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A Former User last edited by
As the above speaker pointed out.
Opera as trademark is a legacy legend. It's like a rare motorbike or an exquisite cigar, or a cognac of a very few bottles in the world. It's like belonging to an esteemed closed gang, Illuminati or something:) It's like Kandinski with everybody else enjoying pop-art:), Classic Rock versus Singing Carpets. Duncan McLeod versus phony Santa at the mall. The beloved Teddy for a 5y girl versus every other toy in the world. The ultimate pride I've been part of. -
acidinmyfridge last edited bylow RAM consumption, floating instant search box feature, chrome extension compatibility.
Don' know, i tried many browsers, but Opera has overall the best feel for me personally ^_^
Just missing the in-build tab tiling / tab stacking feature like Vivaldi has. But i can survive without it lol
You think you know, but you have no idea.
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A Former User last edited by
built in ad-blocker and battery saver is awesome. Windows 10 battery stats actually show that opera is using less than 1% even though i have 10 tabs open since last 48 hrs. chrome and firefox always hover around 25%.
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A Former User last edited by leocg
Thank you so much everyone
[Mod edit: no need to quote your entire post to write an one line reply.
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A Former User last edited by
@saikatpal said in Why Use Opera?:
built in ad-blocker and Speed Test battery saver is awesome. Scrabble Word Finder Windows Solitaire 10 battery stats actually show that opera is using less than 1% even though i have 10 tabs open since last 48 hrs. chrome and firefox always hover around 25%.
Thank you so much Saikatpal
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dan50 last edited by
For me it is the pop up video's extra options, you can see where int he video you are, control volume, you can't do those in other browsers, you can just pause and unpause.
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treego last edited by treego
I prefer Opera over other browsers for the following reasons:
-seems lighter on resources and a bit more responsive/quick than even Chrome, Firefox, and Vivaldi
-best tab preview of any browser - I can check on the tab/page's content simply by hovering over the tab
-full-screen is truly full-screen and allows me access to both open tabs and closed tabs very nicely via Ctrl-M; I can also access Facebook Messenger easily while in full-screen mode by Ctrl-Shift-M.
-keyboard shortcuts for extensions work in full-screen mode perfectly (unlike Vivaldi); Firefox has no keyboard shortcuts for extensions
-does not tap-out my laptop battery as quickly as other browsers
-Instant Search (Alt-Space) works terrifically and is a great way to access bookmarks even in full-screen mode
-customizable keyboard shortcuts (not quite as good as Vivaldi in this respect, but still very good)
-built-in snapshot (Ctrl-Shift-5) is very nice
-speed dial is better and snappier than other browsers
-Personal News integration with AI news/categories is innovative and creative and intriguing
-Facebook Messenger in the pinned sidebar is very nice; I like it better than Vivaldi's implementation. Other browsers simply don't have it. (request: Twitter in this sidebar would be heavenly!)
-address bar input seems to predict what I am looking for better than other browsers
-it is more appealing to the eyes than other browsers. I like the bright wallpapers in Light mode very much.
-MyFlow with Opera Touch on phone is excellent
-neat little features other browsers do not have like tap on tab to take you to top of page/tap again to take you back to where you were on the page
-neat little features like mouse gestures that work and don't overwhelm with too many choices
-the best tab management of any browser I've found to be able to simply go back and forth between two tabs quickly and easily. I use Ctrl-tab for this.
-built-in ad-blocking capability (I assume this is more resource efficient than relying on extensions for this)
-neat little features other browsers do not have like the ability to close a tab with Alt-mouseclick
-neat little features other browsers do not have like the ability to select multiple tabs and then right-click them to copy all their page addresses (URL's)
-neat little features like the ability to select multiple tabs and then right-click them to save them all to a Speed Dial folder -
A Former User last edited by
@treego Wow! What a great listing. You've opened my eyes to things I was unaware of... thanks.
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treego last edited by
One more advantage I see with Opera over some other browsers is the very nice layout for extensions:
-Enabled
-Disabled
-Updates
-Under DevelopmentIt has helped me locate one or more extensions in the past more quickly than I would have located them without such a nice breakdown.
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A Former User last edited by
@treego You should be in marketing. You're definitely observant. Thanks.
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treego last edited by
@coffeelover Thank you. If Opera would like to employ me doing that sort of thing, they can contact me anytime! I prefer to work from home, though.
While I am here, let me add another reason why I prefer Opera over other browsers:
Opera has built-in Cryptocurrency Mining Protection and Malware Blocking
Other browsers force one to research/search for such protection via extensions. I know Opera has got me covered for this already, so it is one less headache/concern for me. I have enough headaches/concerns, already.
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old-opera-noob last edited by@coffeelover wow exactly my feelings, i signed in just for this, Opera used to be something great, something special, now it's just a better Google Chrome.
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treego last edited by treego
I really tried to like Vivaldi this weekend over Opera because of my nostalgic feelings towards Jon Von Tetschner (one of the original founders of Opera, as I recall and the driving force behind Vivaldi today) and the most customizable and fun browser of all time, that being the Opera-Presto browser, but Vivaldi is just too buggy, yet. I won't go into the problems I have with Vivaldi entirely since this is an Opera forum, but Vivaldi still gets the occasional dead-canary page for me and the keyboard shortcuts/mouse gestures don't always work as advertised. The overload of options in Vivaldi in my opinion requires more upkeep and thus a tendency to be buggier. It is much more boggy/slow at loading pages for me here, also. Memory-efficiency is nowhere near Opera's at this point after another whirl with Vivaldi the past 2-3 days.
Finally, one more feather in Opera's cap to think about is the nifty Ctrl-Spacebar option for a slick search through open tabs. It does this elegantly.
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
Much as I like Jon and all the other developers on Vivaldi, it just isn't there yet. And since the browser is basically a Chrome app, every major update to Chrome forces major revisions to Vivaldi's code and thus anything can break in the next update. (More so for internal builds of course, but public snapshots are only slightly better.) I run Opera Developer and almost never have to wonder if the next update is going to break something (except that they seem to be having trouble with Opera Sync, Vivaldi's sync is painless). Of course being a tester can be like that, but testing Opera is generally simple. It just works.
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A Former User last edited by
As it turns out, I don't really use Opera any more. I could not conform it to my work flow, and the Opera team were not at all interested in what I needed to do so, after the change to Blink.
I do still keep a copy of the old Opera 12.18 installed in order to use the mail client, and I keep an eye on development, but that's it. No other browser available could adjust to my needs, either, until I ran into Vivaldi. So that is my default. It's a young browser yet, but it came right out of the gate with things I had been bugging the Opera team to restore, in terms of conformability, ever since the Blink change, and could not make any headway.
The sale to the Chinese was the final nail in the coffin for Opera for me. The worst respecters of data privacy and intellectual property ever to grace the face of the planet cannot get my support, I'm afraid.
So to each his own, I suppose. Contrary to the experience of @sgunhouse , I do not find Vivaldi at all buggy. Plus, it is the only browser in the world I can shape to my needs. So not to be a real downer, but "why use Opera?" I don't. I wish they could have retained my loyalty, but they were not interested in it.
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A Former User last edited by A Former User
@michaeljones: I was a dedicated user of the real Opera since ver. 5.01 (released in year 2000) up till version 12.18 - until it was a feature rich, customizable, well-integrated browsing suite based on Presto engine, being developed by the team of the founder Jón S. von Tetzchner.
When 17 years of work on the real Opera was ditched and new pseudo-Opera was started being developed, with close to zero features compared to the original, all the good reasons to use it disappeared. The new owners and CEO said they will rebuild the features but I knew they lied. Their clear intention was no longer to make a great browser, but to make more money, limiting costs as much as possible.
I was thrilled that Opera was reborn under name Vivaldi with Jón S. von Tetzchner as the captain and owner again. I use it since its first alpha version and it is well polished already with lot's of great, well-integrated features (much more than pseudo-Opera has) and being improved actively both in terms of big features as well as polishing of details.
I need a browser that gives me full control without compromises, with plenty of useful, well-integrated features for high usability to work efficiently and conveniently, and which I can trust on privacy. These are the very reasons why I do not use the pseudo-Opera but Vivaldi, which continues the spirit of the real Opera.
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A Former User last edited by A Former User
@wojcieche I don't think there is any need to use a derogatory term like "pseudo-Opera". If you don't like the "new" Opera then simple: don't use it. Period. But to denigrate Opera does nothing to enhance Vivaldi at least in my eyes. As for Vivaldi not being buggy, a simple perusal of their forums suggests otherwise. It is still not there for many users although I'm glad it's working for you and ayespy. Furthermore, there are many (probably most) who see the direction Vivaldi is taking as a giant leap backwards to the 90's when the "suite" was king. Most users today (by virtue of user statistics) do not want a browser with everything built into it and particularly with a built-in mail client. That is something that very few users (i.e. ayespy) need for their "work flow" or so they claim. I imagine that if Vivaldi disappeared overnight these same people would adjust their work flow to another browser and within a short time be right where they are now. We seem to have that ability to adapt as human beings.. Vivaldi is built for those who want infinite customizability (most users do not) and infinite tinkering (most users couldn't care less). It will never gain much following other than the few who desire these things. The tech world is changing at an incredible rate and the way we use browsers, email and computers in general is going to be completely changed within a few years according to most tech websites I follow. Artificial intelligence will play a key role in making these changes and little players like Vivaldi will be unable to keep apace. People want all their devices synched.... they want smaller devices... more portable devices... pocketable devices. .. devices they can speak to. While I admit that I'm unhappy with the new ownership of Opera, in my view it is in a better position to succeed based upon much deeper pockets. And I suspect with the increasing rise of Google Chrome within a year most users will have switched to it regardless of privacy concerns. Those who are lean and quick to conform will be able to make the transition. Bear in mind that web developers are coding almost exclusively for Chromium based browsers (Chrome, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, Edge shortly) but when a giant like Google Chrome makes changes, these developers jump to make them as well. Can a small, insignificant company like Vivaldi keep abreast? I seriously doubt it. It would surprise me if we see this browser still in development three years from now. Opera? Yes, based upon its potential in the Chinese market.
