said on May 3, 2006 11:08 AM PDT:
2 - grease monkey plugin
3 - extended tabs plugin
9 - dont need plugin?
said on May 3, 2006 11:43 AM PDT:
Thanks for this post. I downloaded opera 9.0 beta from their website and installed it in Ubuntu breezy. It is all what you have mentioned and more. You may also want to include opera widgets which I found really useful and for which there is no equvivalent in firefox.
--
Ravi
http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com
Kareem said on May 3, 2006 12:29 PM PDT:
As far as i know, 7 of those 10 features are already there for Firefox as extensions, and that what Opera doesn't have!
Firefox is way better at many ways, Open-Source, expandable, hackable and does the job quite well.
Of course, it's a personal preference, but i have a little issue with Opera's page rendering, and other CSS issues as well. Besides that, it's a good browser indeed.
Jan said on May 3, 2006 12:56 PM PDT:
If I hadn't grown up with firefox I'd definately consider Opera! But I prefer Firefox at the moment.. I'm just used to it and you can expand it so well. So far I use Opera only to test my website for Opera-specific CSS issues, and they definately exist...
1. in firefox you click the adress bar and start a new tab with the link via alt+enter
2. okay, in firefox only via extension (maybe)
3. extension
4. thats cool
5. that one, too
6. you can do this in ff, too
7. neat
8. ff has that caching, too
9. i'm waiting for this in ff (but there's an extension)
10. i hate this with firefox!
Only "Fit to window width" is not available in Firefox nor by an extension for Firefox.
Maxthon also features a Crash recovery feature, which is pretty damn cool!
said on May 3, 2006 5:07 PM PDT:
When I used Opera for a day, I found number 4 to be awesome when comparing Wikipedia edit comparing and such. That was pretty awesome. No horizontal scroll. It was the only feature I could really get into though. Number 10 is awesome too, but it's available as an extension for Firefox. The rest aren't really important, and more of a lazy way of doing things.
The main issues I had with Opera were getting the tabs to be below the address typing, and how the options dialog and opera:config were handled. They need to simplify some things mostly before I'll be able to use it.
Hery said on May 3, 2006 8:55 PM PDT:
after I read this article, i decided to try and now I consider to switch from firefox to opera..
It is very cool and very fast..
I hate the memory leaked problem in firefox.. also often get crashed...
Just use it and let see.. how good is opera?
said on May 3, 2006 11:21 PM PDT:
Maxthon have these features long long time ago.
said on May 4, 2006 2:52 AM PDT:
Another very useful Opera feature is the page recycle bin, it keeps your closed tabs, as well as blocked popups. I can't remember how many times I have accidentally closed a tab and wanting to go back to it
Andrew said on May 4, 2006 7:38 AM PDT:
Also, what about IETab?
said on May 4, 2006 7:37 AM PDT:
10: Session Manager extension
7: Firefox 2.0 and 3.0
9: Ctrl+ and Ctrl -
Firefox extensions increase RAM usage and sometimes have memory leaks.
Maxthon and IETab use Internet Explorer and inherit all its weaknesses.
said on May 4, 2006 9:21 AM PDT:
1. firefox already has
2. paste and go extension
3. reloadevery extension
6. already has
7. some versions of firefox has
8. fasterfox extension
9. reveal extension
10. comes with tab mix plus extension
said on May 4, 2006 10:06 AM PDT:
2 and 5 are in Safari as well. There goes them!
Kaur said on May 4, 2006 10:19 AM PDT:
The rest are nice, but 8) Instant back is a MUST HAVE. It is also a correct implementation of HTTP spec which tells that user navigation via back/forward should not cause a page reload (see 13.13 History Lists in RFC2616).
I also like Opera's "user view" which overrides un-decorated links and strange colour/font choices of unfriendly web pages - Firefox has a similar "page style" feature which does not work so well. And I use Opera's session saving feature.
said on May 4, 2006 10:33 AM PDT:
Yeah, Opera rocks. I use Firefox, but you still gotta respect quality.
said on May 4, 2006 10:34 AM PDT:
AOL Explorer offers some of these functions out of the box as does Maxthon. Do more research before posting an article like this.
said on May 4, 2006 10:34 AM PDT:
As mentioned, 2 and 5 are in Safari, but 10 is also available with Saft.
This is not a "who's better" article. I use Firefox and I like it, but I just wanted to point out that Opera doesn't get too much attention although it has many unique features.
You can't say that IE has a spell-checker just because Google Toolbar is a plugin for Explorer and it has that feature.
Most Firefox extensions mentioned before are nice, but if you install too many, Firefox will use even more memory.
But I say it once again: don't transform this in a flame: Firefox vs Opera. It's not productive.
said on May 4, 2006 10:40 AM PDT:
I used to use opera as my browser and loved it. As soon as I used the adblock feature in firsefox, most of the stuff I had in opera no longer mattered. I found extensions for most features, and am currently pretty happy with firefox.
said on May 4, 2006 10:40 AM PDT:
If you're going to write about something with authority, then make sure you've done your homework. Firefox extensions can provide most of what you say only appears in Opera:
1. Duplicate this tab
SuperT
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2224/
2. Go to URL
URL Link
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/403/
3. Reload every 30 seconds
ReloadEvery
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/115/
5. Rewind
Something close 'nuf:
https://addons.mozilla.org/addon.php?id=1957
7. Tab closing
Tab Mix Plus
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1122/
9. Page zoom
What's wrong with control + scroll wheel?
10. Crash recovery
Tab Mix Plus
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1122/
or
SessionManager
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2324/
or
Session Saver
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/436/
said on May 4, 2006 10:44 AM PDT:
1. , c'mon it's all about the middle mouse click on the back button.
stopped reading after that, after realising i didn't care really.
skipped to comments for possible analysis, amused at general concensus.
then felt dumb for optimistically following link, maybe comment will justify something.
i..
nah, just wasting time on the net, looking for something new, moving on..
5)profit
sub
said on May 4, 2006 10:46 AM PDT:
My favorite opera feature, the F-12 list, was not listed in this top 10.
It quickly allows you to change pop-up blocking preferences. You can enable or disable gif/svg animation, sounds in webpages, java, javascript, and other plugins. You can change your browser identity, disbale cookies, and easily open the site specific preferences dialog. You can do all of this without digging into preferences or navigating through a bunch of menus. Just press F-12 and up pops a little context menu.
said on May 4, 2006 10:52 AM PDT:
"This is not a "who's better" article.Um.. that's what it sounds like to me.
I use Firefox and I like it, but I just wanted to point out that Opera doesn't get too much attention although it has many unique features."Just for the record, look up the word "unique". If the feature exists in 1 or more other browsers then it's not unique to Opera. More accurate adjectives would be useful, helpful, beneficial, neat, cool, etc.
said on May 4, 2006 10:58 AM PDT:
A favorite feature of mine is the Fast Forward button / gesture. If i'm browsing things from a dir list or there are links tagged as next (like search results) I can quickly go to the next item without searching for a link or going back a page and finding the next item in the list.
marco said on May 4, 2006 11:09 AM PDT:
About
8. Instant backSee this
Opera Knowledge Base: JavaScript and History NavigationI found that on certain site using back will load the full page again, because of some scripts making opera think it needs to refresh. Changing those Settings helps.
By the way, I get that a lot of people like Firefox - I use it as my main Browser too. But I think you could still recognize that Opera has the most usefull feature without being bloated and without having to install 10 extensions. That is the core of this posting and it is good!
Thanks,
Marco
said on May 4, 2006 11:12 AM PDT:
Page zoom Is a feature of IE7
Also bookmarks in IE can be opened by typing the name of the bookmark, maybe not a folder of them but indivduals...
Most of this can be done in Firefox by extentsions, and probally in IE (if people made the extentsions for it), So yes by defualt Opera might have mroe but all 100 are not unquie to even defualt installs of IE or Firefox.
In my personal order of preference FirFox, IE7Beta, Opera... My experinces with Opera just haven't been stellar.
Inviz said on May 4, 2006 11:18 AM PDT:
Page zoom means Graphic zoom also.
Who cares about extensions. It's not like Opera vs 100000000000000000 extensions of firefox or ugly hack of ie. gg no re
said on May 4, 2006 11:19 AM PDT:
You say this is an article to point out what is UNIQUE with Opera and yet several features are in Safari out of the box which does NOT make them unique to safari.
Also serveral of the later items are more a personal preference than a feature. Some might prefer that it goes to the next tab instead of the last used when you close a tab.
the main advantage with opera is it is stable and fast. especially useful on older, slow machines. all the features are neatly organised (vs ff).
I like perticularly the feature where i can search perticular type of links on a page and download all those files at one go.
one major problem in firefox it when it saves passwords it doesnt warn that thos can be viewed simply thru preferences...
said on May 4, 2006 11:38 AM PDT:
Well, all of the Firefox fanboys seem to have something to say about almost all of the things listed in the article. What do you say about Opera being your web browser and email client and still using less ram than Firefox.
Opera rules so much, it's senior to Firefox and has everything "out of the box"! No hassle downloading a bunch of extensions. If you have to think about innovative you'll have to say Opera, because all Firefox has been doing is replicate Opera features with it's extensions. Sure it's a good alternative to IE, but once you adopt Opera and it's ease of use you won't change back. Let's say; at my school they have Firefox, wow that is great! There is no plug-in it's "dry" browsing. I install Opera and surf just as efficiently as if I were home.
Long live Opera & Opera Mini :D - The true innovators!
Eric D said on May 4, 2006 11:43 AM PDT:
For #1, middle-clicking the back button in FireFox will open the previous page in a new tab.
I like Opera. I think it's a good browser. It just crashed one too many times on tricky and/or overloaded sites. FF doesn't do that to me AS MUCH.
Also, Opera is a little too feature-rich for my tastes. Safari has too little. FF fits me well.
said on May 4, 2006 11:49 AM PDT:
I've read the two first items and BOTH can be done with the browser I use, Konqueror. Your headline is false.
said on May 4, 2006 11:55 AM PDT:
Opera is definitely a great browser, although I prefer Firefox for it's overall simplicity. As for #1, I think a previous commentor pointed out the middle click on the back button. This was one of the first "features" of Firefox I discovered and turned me into a "tabbed browser only" user.
I will say though that I use Opera for specific sites due to #8 and #9. While other browsers let you control the text size, nothing compares to the Zoom feature of Opera, note zoom is different from adjusting the font size! Don't have immediate access, but I think the last IE7 beta had a similar "zoom" feature.
Extensions handle most of the rest of this list in Firefox and I still feel that Firefox is running much quicker because the interface is just "cleaner", all of these things of course in my very humbled opinion.
micah said on May 4, 2006 12:06 PM PDT:
2, 4 and 5 are all in safari on os x.
9 is in os x as a whole. you can zoom in on any area of the screen (including the browser window) if it is too small to read. [Universal Access Control Pane]
said on May 4, 2006 12:11 PM PDT:
Opera is not only a good web browser. It integrate another very useful tools such e-mail client, feed reader, contact manager. All of them with very fine and easy way to search and organize. You only get web, mail, newsfeed, notes and contacts in one place with opera. Just another tip. If you have Linux and Windows in the same machine is easy to configure the path in the opera.ini file to point a folder in a fat partition that contains opera data folder. It let you have the same configuration mails contacts,.. everything in the same status in both operating systems.
Sens said on May 4, 2006 12:18 PM PDT:
It may be difficult to imagine, but I've had every single one of those features in Firefox with a few extensions.
Okay, so it isn't built in, but there are some "features" in Opera that just ruin my browsing.
said on May 4, 2006 12:28 PM PDT:
Safari invented the "Rewind" function.
Camino has the instant back function.
This list is ill-advised and inaccurate.
said on May 4, 2006 12:37 PM PDT:
Safari doesn't even have a "rewind".
said on May 4, 2006 1:06 PM PDT:
My favorite thing to do in Opera, and I have yet to be able to configure the multiple tab-related Firefox extensions to do so, is this: have Google open in one tab and have every click of a google links reuse another tab. It keeps me from having a dozen open tabs open up as I try to find something.
said on May 4, 2006 1:57 PM PDT:
Safari *does* have "rewind" although it is not named "rewind". It is named "snap back" and it is the little orange arrow that shows up on the right of the address bar after you go a couple links deep.
In Safari you can also do the same functionality as #1. If you right click, you can hold down "option" and the context menu item "Go Back" changes to "Go Back in new Tab".
I think #7 is just a matter of personal preference. I prefer the way Safari and Firefox do this.
10. is not really necessary if you build a browser that doesn't crash. (haha)
8. Safari uses the cached version as well.
6. Nicknames: In Safari you just make a folder in your bookmarks, and then you can select "Open in Tabs" to open all the bookmarks inside that folder at once..
You can also enhance Safari for more non-standard features using Saft, Stand, and Pith Helmet and the Safari debug menu.
A said on May 4, 2006 2:16 PM PDT:
I HOPE this has been said many times before, but, 2,5, 9 (in fact, "9" is in every cocoa-based Mac OS X application, just hit cmd-"+" and cmd-"-") are there in Safari and have been for ages. Rest I don't know, need or care.
Drakken said on May 4, 2006 2:17 PM PDT:
Opera is unique because almost all this features existed since like 4 or 5 year ago, a long time before the Firefox proyect. Also a very good feature is the sessions. If you need to go and you have 15 tabs opened it saves everithing. When you come back you can even click Back and have all the history from the last session. Opera rocks, it has some rendering problems but anyway it rocks. Don't pay attention to the Firefox fanboys...They love Firefox because everybody else does, not because the "know" what they are talking about
said on May 4, 2006 2:38 PM PDT:
Safari also supports duplicating tabs. The only reason no one knows about it is because it is the same key command for Spotlight, command-space bar.
said on May 4, 2006 2:55 PM PDT:
Your title of this post is " 10 Features You'll Find Only In Opera" which is a MAJOR misnomer.
The only features that are not available in FireFox are 4, 9, 12 and 14.
Create presentations? This is a web browser. If you need a presentation in a browser that bad, look at S5.
Voice commands? Do I really want all the people in my office looking at me funny, while I shout "Back, Back I say!" at my computer?
Zoom is nice. Might be an extension I don't know about.
I've seen bookmarklets that do force-wrapping type things, but never well.
said on May 4, 2006 3:34 PM PDT:
The best part about extending Firefox to match the features that Opera has by default is they all break every time you upgrade Firefox. Hooray for duct taping features!
said on May 4, 2006 6:36 PM PDT:
I remember, years ago, when Mozilla (well before it was Firefox) first started using extensions, at least half the extensions that popped up were purely and simply efforts to duplicate well established Opera features.
Firefox may be now winning the browser war, but Opera should be proud of just how many innovative and useful features they invented first.
myrtar said on May 4, 2006 10:36 PM PDT:
TAB TRASH! Man, I can't believe you left out the recently-closed pages list!
I use Opera, Firefox, IE6, 7, and the Moz suite concurrently - but Opera's trashbin is what makes me love it so!
said on May 4, 2006 11:18 PM PDT:
You need to use more browsers before making sweeping statements like "only find in"
OmniWeb 5 on the Mac has had 90% of those features built-in long before Opera ever did. Some of those new (and presumably "only found in") to Opera 9 features have been in OmniWeb 5 for a couple of years now (graphical tabs, btw, were probably in a Windows browser called iRider first).
That isn't to say that they aren't good features or that Opera isn't a good browser to have them, they just are not as unique as you have made them seem.
OmniWeb looks really nice, but it's not free (it costs $29.95), it's available only for Mac and its
vertical tabbing looks quite weird.
A good (but not complete) comparison of web browsers is available at
Wikipedia.
I admit the headline is misleading and there are many web browsers that have great features. If the words "only" and "unique" offended you, I'm sorry (I rewrote the first paragraph to eliminate them, unfortunately I can't change the title), but if your browser (be it OmniWeb, Maxthon, NetSurf, Camino, Flock or other) has something you really like, share it to the world and increase its awareness. This way, people like me won't make such confusions anymore.
said on May 5, 2006 1:10 AM PDT:
Here is a list of features that were included in opera
first.
Tweaking Opera : http://www.pallab.net/2006/04/12/extending-opera-the-ultimate-guide-to-customizing-opera/
said on May 5, 2006 2:36 AM PDT:
Open source = "come'n mess up me".
If something is open source, it scares me. Code bloats, everybody touches it. Code frequently violates standards or coding idioms. People, however, think that open source is hackable but they miss the point; the point is that if a code is open for public, it means it's open to be messed up and full of weird techniques.
One more point; I should not think on hacking the code because I expect "the product" I'm using to work correctly. Imagine, if you will, one is a 45 years old retired worker, bought a PC to his 12 years old daughter, both have no idea about computers... One guy comes up and explains the "open source". I could nominate this approach to "The World's Most Stupid Suggestions - So Hack the Code, dude!". And this is why "the bad" Bill Gates wins.
Firefox code is gigantic. Comes third after QT and KDE code in my "code not to download" list, though QT and KDE code are far more readable and cleaner and required. After all, I can still have a browser without compiling messy code.
You miss one more point; you all say "all of those features are enabled as firefox extensions", and author does not mention about "Opera extensions" because those are "native" features that you get without extensions. Opera is smaller with those extensions, pure Firefox installation is larger + if you download extensions it gets bigger + bad extensions can cause browser to crash... Opera runs on any device (repeat, any device) if you mind this detail to understand how tight the code is.
I don't have to keep looking for extensions, they should advertise themselves so that I could know. On the other hand, if those features are not included along with already big Firefox, as native features, this is nobody's but Firefox people's fault to exclude them and let those absent features later "patched" by anybody else.
I'm against Firefox. First time in my life, I'm against a web browser whose name is not Internet Explorer. Because Firefox is dead slow (at least on my FreeBSD), big, and does less but somehow exaggerated by people, messed code (like various GPL style licensed software).
Moral of the story;
extensions
are to patch
absent or excluded
native
features
and they
make Firefox
even
bigger
period.
Capische?
To all the people who are saying such and such a browser has this and that...
GameBit:
2. Firefox + GreaseMonkey = 4 to 6 TIMES the size and resource consumption of Opera, which has the option built in, and has Userscripting built in, eliminating the need for GreaseMonkey at all
3. Firefox + GreaseMonkey + ExtendedTabs plugin = even larger size and resource consumption, and soon you'll be using FrankenBrowser
9. Firefox doesn't have a Zoom. Firefox has a font-size changer. BIG difference. IE7 is seriously trying very hard to duplicate Opera's zoom, and the Firefox people haven't even got the slightest idea HOW.
Kareem:
Your "issue with page rendering and other CSS issues" is most likely a rendering problem in Firefox.
Jan:
1. You don't get your history. In fact, it seems like Firefox goes WAY out of it's way to DESTROY your history (and bookmarks, and preferences) every chance it gets.
8. Firefox's back button caching doesn't work NEARLY as well as Opera's.
Anonymous on moving the tab bar:
Click "Customize". Click the bar. Move it where you want it.
Anonymous on closed tabs: Excellent point as well. Ctrl-Z and boom! up comes the last window you closed when the cat jumped on your keyboard or whatever.
spinemangler: The Block Content function of Opera 9, is not as wonderful as the ad-block extension, but I think the people that wrote that sold their souls to the devil to be able to write it :D Seriously, with the new Block Content, I hardly ever see any ads anymore, after about two weeks. Probably took about a week to train my Firefox to ignore. But with the pages loading 50-150% faster in Opera, i don't even really care about the ads.
Inviz: The Opera zoom also zooms almost every plug-in, as well .. except for that Quicktime piece of crap.
Anonymous, re: Konqueror. People tell me that Konqueror works great, blah blah blah, all the time. Oddly enough, I still don't see it. Thing doesn't even have CSS support on a stock installation .. ?? at least as of last summer ... so if it does now, it was only 7 years late as opposed to 8...
Sens: Exactly to what are you referring to? Sounds like you're trying to be secret squirrel, because you don't have anything to say?
Drakken: I have a particular session saved with 98 tabs on it :D
said on May 5, 2006 4:55 AM PDT:
.. and that's exactly the problem!
Not exactly the same, but imagine same thing for your car (top 50 accessories for your car - make it heavier than ever!!)
said on May 5, 2006 9:08 AM PDT:
OmniWeb has 10 out of the 15, many of them implemented with more features than Opera:
http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?p=1744
Marcus said on May 5, 2006 1:18 PM PDT:
Thanks to your article i tried Opera and liked it ;).
said on May 6, 2006 9:11 AM PDT:
Opera is second to none for pr0n browsing... :)
Get to a page of thumbnails, hit F11 (fullscreen, black background), then just hit spacebar to load the following image... (this is a result of a specialisation of the Forward action)
PS. Thumbnails should be links to plain .jpg's
--
Your local perv
You guys are all jerks. I think this is a nice article. All you guys did was turn this into a browser war. This article was informative and a lot of what I hear from everyone else is ignorance.
I think you guys are missing the point. You act like opera is so crappy when you're like, "Oh yeah well 7 out 10 of those features are in FF if you have extensions."
1) FF doesn't have all of them
2) Opera has these out of the box. FF makes you download a bunch of extra crap making FF much bigger and less stable. Stability with all these features alone make Opera better.
What I think is funny though that all the people that don't know what they're talking about and try to make Firefox seem better also sound illiterate. Ironic.
It's only a matter of time before more people relize what the truth of the matter is.
I don't think Opera has a good enough advertising campaign.
said on May 18, 2006 5:58 AM PDT:
This is stupid.
1. Extension
2. Extension
3. Easy, an extension.
I'm sure ff could do all of these features with extensions, but that's becides the point! My crappy old 1969ford escort could beat a limited edition porshe easy. With 5 rockets strapped to the back, as _extensions_.
Nice feature set.
The "duplicate tab" was even new for me.
Greets
-------------------------------
www.schreiblogade.de
www.ulmassive.de
said on June 14, 2006 4:47 AM PDT:
I love the way that so many commentators have diligently researched Firefox plugins that have similar functions to these features in Opera, then listed them. Other posts have said that "Safari does this" or "Camino does that". The article says "Some of them are available in Firefox, if you download extensions, or in other browsers, so you may say they're not unique to Opera, but Opera used them first and they are a part of Opera's innovation."
There is one more
brilliant thing about Opera, and that is keyboard navigation. MSIE and Firefox browse links within the page in a very stupid way, and that is how they "flow" in source code, only Opera can follow next/previous links based on their actual graphical presentation on the screen.
Very handy of you love keyboard or if your mouse stops working..
said on June 29, 2006 9:38 AM PDT:
Opera is the best browser for Windows and Macintosh, after Konqueror it is the best on Linux PCs, too!!!
Just look at the facts (www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html). This is not joking. The new Opera supports Java apps. Fully compatible with Flash, etc.
Know sth better, please tell me!!!
said on July 18, 2006 8:23 PM PDT:
Regarding this "only find in opera" notion...well...pretty much all of these features are available in Avant too.
said on July 19, 2006 12:18 PM PDT:
Does anybody have any comments about the CPU usage in Opera as compared to Firfox 1.5.0.X or Firefox 2.0beta1. I feel that Opera is way better there. I am not saying that I dont like/use Firefox but I the CPU usage sucks currently
Jani said on July 19, 2006 4:28 PM PDT:
These so called "Opera specific CSS issues" are actually because Opera is more strict when parsing CSS than (most?) other browsers. Opera's support for CSS is top-notch and even better now with version 9.
Maybe you should learn to write proper CSS before complaining.
said on July 24, 2006 1:06 PM PDT:
I'm using Firefox w/ around 60 extensions and it doesn't use too much RAM...
Think about it: An average "value" PC currently ships with about 512MB of RAM, 256MB+ of which you will never use except for playing games. When was the last time you heard of somebody playing FarCry with Firefox open at the same time?
Opera also isn't necessarily the most standards compliant browser. As a matter of fact, Firefox has far better HTML support than Opera.
I personally have Firefox 1.5 & 2b1 and Opera 9 installed, although I hardly ever use Opera.
BTW: You know those browser speed tests from howtocreate.co.uk? They were written by an Opera technical writer...
said on November 29, 2006 12:09 AM PDT:
OPERA RULES!!!
FF is pale copy of it
said on December 2, 2006 2:16 PM PDT:
I think the point he was getting at is that Opera has all of these feature pre-mstalled, without the hassle of downloading 8+ extensions in Firefox. Opera also consumes less RAM, doesn't leak RAM and renders images better than Firefox and every other browser (acid2 test proves this.
Aise from Opera, there's no way for any other browser to get these aside from having the occassional few on the list.
As for me, Mouse Gestures (which yes, Firefox has a copy via extensions), and the "Paste and Go" features.
said on December 22, 2006 11:25 PM PDT:
Opera rocks man! 4.x MB for everything u'll ever need! For anything else, there are widgets. Faster, secure, ultra feature-rich, compliant!
Sunshine :)
said on December 29, 2006 8:33 PM PDT:
For more information: http://files.myopera.com/Rijk/blog/extensions.html
Hopefully this list is more accurate:
1. Right click + scroll wheel
2. Can handle the most tabs opened among the top 3 windows browser (FF and IE7 can handle less tabs before the system slows down)
3. Search in address bar - go to a search site, in the search box, right click, create search, put letter. When you search for something, type g in address bar space keywords then enter. No need for search bar anymore or additional toolbars. FF still only supports google search in address bar.
4. Drag tabs into personal bar, panels, besides address bar - An improved version of FF's customize toolbar, alternate way to bookmark often visited pages.
5. Trash can - an easier version of undo closed tab/ closed tabs list
6. More Import and Export options
7. Wand + master password - A safer version of putting in passwords compared to FF and IE's default way.
8. Manage bookmarks - Superior to bookmark folder extension in that you can create folders while bookmarking
9. Single button navigation - In Opera, moving from tab to tab involves pressing 1 and 2 and if you prefer, an easier way to remap the keys into Ctrl Tab like FF by visiting Tools - Preference
10. Multiple Config + Customizable lay-out = Each skins downloaded has color schemes which adds 12 additional skins from just downloading 1 skin. Each setup/toolbars/keyboard/mouse config can be saved, duplicated easily for when you want to switch back to the default setup or want Opera to function/look another way quickly.
said on March 28, 2007 2:40 PM PDT:
firefox has NO zoom!
firefox may changes the font size, but it does NOT zoom images...Opera zooms the page including pictures and stuff
said on June 21, 2007 9:26 PM PDT:
What about Speed Dial? Thats a nice Opera feature - kinda like fav 9 for the internet :P
Toxic said on August 28, 2007 9:30 PM PDT:
One more missed feature
Simply type :
g your query
in the address bar in opera and the google results will show up...Now aint that Awesome !!!
Denis said on September 4, 2007 8:28 AM PDT:
People, you are all missing the point. :)
You are comparing like apples to Nissan. "What is better?" The hell, it depends!
"Opera is better, since these features are out of box", "Firefox is better, since you can have more features"...
Isn't it god damn obvious, that for a not so tech user Opera is easier and friendlier, while the customization and modularization of Firefox is incredibly powerful for a power-user?
The target audience is different, do not compare two totally different things!
If I needed a car to look cool, I'd buy a Porsche. If I needed a car for family, I'd buy mini-van. What's better? Depends.
Chase-san said on January 12, 2008 12:43 PM PDT:
I find it interesting half these comments are compairing it to firefox. What are you scared that Opera will sway you? Unlikely that opera however more revelutionary, faster or more feature rich could ever beat firefox's overwhelming ad campain (a sad day for opera).
said on January 25, 2008 4:25 PM PDT:
Those features above are
Innovations by Opera. It may exist in Firefox, but Opera made those features first. and it seems that this post is infested by close-minded Firefox fanboys, whattashame.
BTW. I am a previous FF Fanboy, but fell in love with Opera.
said on March 24, 2008 7:39 AM PDT:
My favourite Opera features:
1)Custom Search
- no need for any fancy toolbar.
- i can create my OWN shortcut keyword to use the search function of ANY website w/o having to go to that website (not just google and a few others)
2)Mouse gestures
- i wish i can have an OS with mouse gestures too
3)No extension
- everything is so much cleaner
- no more constant updates
4)Auto-password and Registration
- no need to register and fill in passwords at every website that requires it
5)Speed Dial
- type 1 and press enter, automatically lands in your fav site
- or you can use ctrl+1 (direct access)
-or ctrl+t and just click on the website image
Once you get used to all those features, firefox and IE feels real clumsy. yeah, once you've driven porsche, everything else just feels old.
This is all achieved w/o hogging resources. It is also the most secure browser. It also passes (100%) all ACID test.
said on May 18, 2008 6:45 AM PDT:
Firefox Is way better! and also I think you should take off number ten because firefox always recovers all you're pages from a crash and even from something as abrubt as a power cut! plus it keeps it in each page in the same order and in the same tabs and/or windows as before!
@Anonymous:
Keep in mind that the article is from May 2006. Firefox added session restore in October 2006 (when Firefox 2.0 was launched).
said on June 4, 2008 9:16 PM PDT:
Interesting to read the comments and lot of helpful knowledge also about these two great browsers.
I'm one of those who like both Firefox and Opera.
I like to add couple of great features of Opera which i've discovered.
Rightclick the webpage ur viewing and scroll down the options below and there u can choose to view the same page in IE or FF.
Hold the right mouse button and scroll the mouse wheel and u can view multiple pages u've opened and choose the page u like to view.
said on September 26, 2008 11:08 AM PDT:
Firefox doesn't have sh*it against Opera
opera 10 is just releasing by the end of year.
fhfghhfdh said on October 30, 2008 6:45 AM PDT:
IF YOU USE IE KNOWING FF YOU ARE DUMB, IF YOU USE FF KNOWING OPERA YOU ARE JUST DAMN STUPID.
SURE FIREFOX CAN IMITATE OPERA IF I INSTALL ALOT OF PLUGINS, CONVERTING A NEAT BROWSING IN TO A FAT-LAG-CRASHING EXPERIENCE
FUCK YOU FF MORONS!!!
Can't understand every time there is a "Opera vs Firefox" post people go ballistic. It's only a web browser, lol.
At any rate it's a good idea to carry all the major browsers simply because some sites are displayed differently depending on what your using. Obviously for developers it's a must.
Opera has definitely matured since this article was written and has some great (built in) features and Firefox is more expandable simply because of the sheer number of users.
Use both and switch around when you get bored.
said on February 28, 2009 6:36 AM PDT:
Firefox is great for moving people from IE.
But if they want something newer and better then Opera is the logical choice. Simply because tasks that require you to install plugins in Firefox just work out of the box in Opera. So need to mess about installing greasemonkey etc.
Rashid said on April 21, 2009 8:14 AM PDT:
Absolutely fantastic features, specially the instant back and reload every 10 seconds works well for me.
said on May 6, 2009 6:14 PM PDT:
Loving Opera! It doesn't crash nearly like IE! I am sure others are great too, but for me this is the best! We all have different opinions and that's fine.
said on June 6, 2009 11:22 PM PDT:
I have been an opera user since long. I have found it to be the best as far my usage is concerned, without getting into technical details. Firefox,Netscape,IE, Flock all have been used by me, but i still feel Opera is the best and have stuck with Opera till date.
Does anyone know the name of this opera?
This is preformed by the Norwegian comedy group Raske Menn, and I really want to know what the name of this song is called.
said on October 23, 2009 9:30 AM PDT:
Been using Opera for years now. If you actually take the time to learn what it can do, you will find out just how good it really is.
hanum said on October 23, 2009 11:08 PM PDT:
Opera is innovative and feature Rich. Go Opera.. Go Opera..
Nice posting. Thank’s for info sharing ^_^
Everyone says that Opera is an innovative browser, but most fail to say why. So I created a list of ten features that are really helpful in your everyday browsing and are available in Opera. Some of them are available in Firefox, if you download extensions, or in other browsers, so you may say they're not unique to Opera, but Opera used them first and they are a part of Opera's innovation.
