Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Browsers
Opera 10 is here, but how does it stack up?
by Jay Hathaway Sep 1st 2009 at 8:30AM
Is Opera 10 still worth going for? Well, it's definitely fast. I gave it a spin on some resource-intensive sites, and without any formal testing, I can say that page load times on my Mac felt at least as fast as those in Safari and Chrome. It also passes the Acid 3 Test with flying colors. Combine that with the slick-looking (and quite space-efficient) new UI and the Turbo feature, and you've got a legitimate candidate for your new favorite browser. And, when Unite finally arrives as a separate download, it should only get better.
Have you tried Opera 10? Will you be switching? Leave us your impressions in the comments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jordan said 8:43AM on 9-01-2009
What's Opera again?
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Hans said 9:06AM on 9-01-2009
The fast Scandinavian car among web browsers, Robust, TRULY innovative and with all options that 90% of all users would want in FF add-ons built in at the factory (and guaranteed).
It's my default. And i tried FF, many times, on every new version. But after one day I'm starting to feel tired and click the big red "O" again.
It's on my PC, its on my mac, its on my phone. It just works and doesn't take a day to find and update all the add-ons you would need in FF, for example.
Oh, and it looks much better. Scandinavian design maybe ?
Rocketboy said 10:03AM on 9-01-2009
What, you forgot already after remembering that at one time it was paid software?
What did you do besides trolling again?
Oh wait, nothing.
Timothy said 8:51AM on 9-01-2009
Opera is the browser I always really like but can never quite force myself to get into the habit of using.... The browser wars aren't only about technology - they are about convincing people to get out of their rut - and my rut is FireFox (even though I realize Opera is the better browser).
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phobic99 said 9:08AM on 9-01-2009
I downloaded on my Mac this morning and I like it so far although I haven't tried it on my Windows 7 PC yet. The thing with Opera for me is that while the initial experience is great, I always end up at a site that just isn't fully compatible. I then wonder why I even bothered with Opera in the first place.
I always go back to Firefox in the end. I wonder how long it'll take me to do so this time.
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scooterpd said 9:49AM on 9-01-2009
I have run into the same situation with Opera not be compatible with some sites. It used to frustrate me, but then I noticed that if you just right click on the incompatible site and go to Edit Site Preferences > Network, you can change it to "mask" itself as FF or IE. It is a built-in tool equivalent to FF's User Agent Switcher. I have been using Opera since 9.* and havent turned back. It is just a better more convenient browser, and it is fast and not too bloated. FF eats up my memory a lot more than Opera does.
I have tested FF for every release, but never use it for more than a day. I have Opera on every pc in the house on every OS as my default.
KDR said 9:33AM on 9-01-2009
I've been using Opera since version 5 or 6 and no browser compares to it.
I remember once I tried to install plugins on firefox to get it to function like Opera, it took me about 20-something plugins and it was still missing tons of features.
Opera's the most customizable browser and in my opinion, fastest as well. I love everything about it and I'd recommend it to everyone.
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Gary said 9:37AM on 9-01-2009
Please test sites with complex scripting like Google docs and so forth. Last time I tried Opera, even the email sites I tried were slow, buggy or didn't work at all.
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Rocketboy said 10:04AM on 9-01-2009
When's the last time you tested? They all work fine for me.
Alex D said 10:22AM on 9-01-2009
Well, sometimes it's the web designer's fault for 'innovating' solutions (read 'patches'), and make invalid code. (This is not about GDocs, but generally, for a lot of web sites)
I use mainly Opera, and version 10 since it's first betas. I find some things 'bloated', like the bittorrent integration, the widgets, and maybe Unite (haven't used it too much). But at least, these are things that don't get in the way.
What I *do* like are the tabs, and MDI if needed, the zooming, the mail client + rss reader, quick notes, and the download manager. Speed dial is very useful, and so is the bookmark sync. Mouse gestures are nice (or at least left+right and right+left clicks for forward/back). Ctrl+Z for restoring the last closed pages, sessions for saving a bunch of tabs when I look for something specific.
Turbo (the new thing in 10) is useful for the crappy Wifi that I get to use from time to time, and so are the options to completely disable images, or use just the cached ones. On the netbook, the 'Fit to width' feature is quite useful :D
And on my desktop with wide screen, having the tabs on the right side is quite nice.
What else I like, is Ctrl+Shift+V for 'Paste and Go' in the address bar, and also the search feature (in bookmarks, history, or directly in a search engine) fro the address bar. The magic wand is nice, including the dialog that pops above the page, while it is loading in the background, to see if you've entered the right data.
Ah, and for ad blocking, I wish there was an integrated solution (or an add-on/plugin), but at least once you set it up, you can forget about it.
In the end, even if from time to time I use FF, truth is that I prefer Opera. I know that if I get in trouble, I can try FF, and if that doesn't work, then the site is not worth it. And, they get along together with no problems.
So, from my point of view, I highly recommend it.
Hylic said 10:34AM on 9-01-2009
"Ah, and for ad blocking, I wish there was an integrated solution (or an add-on/plugin), but at least once you set it up, you can forget about it."
I'm not sure what you mean by an integrated solution, but opera has built in ad-blocking they just call it "Content Blocking", to use it right click on a page and click "Block Content" from the context menu.
Alex D said 10:44AM on 9-01-2009
@Hylic Yes, I know it has that. But there are a lot of sites that on reload, change the ads URLs, and you get them back.
The Content Blocking writes the blocked addresses in a file called urlfilter.ini (I think, I am not sure). There are some predefined files with lots of ads URLs that are periodically updated - just like AdBlock's plugin for FF.
I wish they already had some predefined values there, and a mechanism for updating the filter.
For me, it's not such a hassle, but for some users... they only say that 'Opera doesn't have an AdBlock plugin' :)
Cheers
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Alex D said 10:48AM on 9-01-2009
Arr, sorry for my English! And for the clumsy way I express myself :D
I mean, they have the filtering capability, but there are no default values (no filters in place), and no easy way to update the filter file, like AdBlock does.
See here some more info: http://my.opera.com/Tamil/blog/ad-block
Cheers
Rocketboy said 12:09PM on 9-01-2009
For the adds that won't go away, I find a Shift/Click works just fine.
Snookie said 11:59AM on 9-01-2009
It is quite good, but i would like it more if i could use lastpass with it, perhaps this might be available at a later date
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chrishigh said 12:02PM on 9-01-2009
I gave it a fair shot, my annoyances so far:
1. Bookmarks - you can import from other browsers (but first you must export the data from them - it can't handle itself like Firefox can). But when you want to organize those favorites you can't shift- or ctrl-select all the folders, meaning you have to drag every one of them, individually, out of the 'Netscape' directory it leaves them in.
2. Again with Bookmarks - you can't right-click Bookmarks from the dropdown menu, meaning you can't Delete, Rename, or otherwise edit the properties easilt without jumping through hoops. Silly oversight.
3. Just discovered you ALSO can't drag & drop them to the quick links toolbar. Aaargh annoying...
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Ray said 12:12PM on 9-01-2009
I think it's pretty cool actually, and how you can see mini-browsers at the top where tabs usually are is pretty sweet. I just wish xmarks was compatible for Opera too :( As soon as that's in, I'd use Opera much more.
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fiendsan said 12:35PM on 9-01-2009
competition is always a good thing, but opera is on catch up mode for a long time now, when years ago it was one of the lead players... so should you use opera now, hummm chrome is kinda better browser and firefox is much more extensible, so i would say no, sorryyyy
ohh also opera and opera peeps are always bragging that opera did first but some stuff opera was always and still is lagging behind, like extensibility (widgets can do so much), like automatic updates (finally done) or new generation javascript engines (still a work in progress)...
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libeco said 1:36PM on 9-01-2009
Could someone tell me if there's an option to change the standard layout of Opera with the tab bar above the address bar? I use Maxthon, but thought I'd give Opera another try, but having tabs above the addressbar is an unbelievable location for me...
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pittmanken said 2:08AM on 9-04-2009
http://my.opera.com/Tamil/blog/tab-bar-below-address-bar