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- MarginOfError, on 10/12/2007, -40/+230All provided by extensions for Firefox.
- kimos, on 10/12/2007, -13/+56@MarginOfError: "All provided by extensions for Firefox."
Why is this getting modded down? He's not trolling, it's true. I have nothing against Opera, I hear good things about it all the time. That doesn't take away from the fact that most of the arguments in this article are silly and are easily implemented with extensions... - millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -4/+45All Features: Out-of-the-box in Opera. Plugins with Firefox. YMMV with Safari. But...
Completely IMPOSSIBLE with Internet Explorer. - lm1981, on 10/12/2007, -6/+43Only available in Opera "by default" - 2 words, big difference
Now I wont go into why the extension system is better than implementing everything into the browser, but here is your helpful stuff "only available in Opera" - done in Firefox
1. Duplicate this tab
Tab Mix Plus- right click tab -> choose duplicate tab or you can as well set Ctrl/Shift/Alt/Double click on tab to duplicate it
2. Go to URL
Superdragandgo - select the URL, drag up = open in foreground, drag down = open in background, drag down an image - download it to your desktop, drag a word - automatically search it to whatever search engine selected in the search bar
3. Reload every 30 seconds
Reloadevery - set time interval to reload page of your own choosing
5. Rewind
Reveal - hit F2, pick the tab you want to rewind, press "Ins" - see visually how did you get to this page
6. Nicknames
Right-click the bookmark you want to "nickname", select properties, enter the desired word into the "keyword" field
7. Tab closing
Tab Mix Plus again - chose which tab you want to see after closing the current one - first, last, right, left or last selected
8. Instant back
Implemented in Firefox 1.5 AFAIK
9. Zoom
Hit Ctrl or Ctrl - to increase/decrease fonts without distorting the whole page as in Opera
10. Crash recovery
Tab Mix Plus, chose if you want to restore, when (if at all) should the browser ask you if to restore (browser start/close) and which tab sessions to restore - samdu, on 10/12/2007, -9/+381. 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/
4. Fit to window width
With a 1080p monitor/HDTV, this is simply no longer even remotely an issue. :P
5. Rewind
Not to sure about this one, either, but, again, I almost never have a problem with this.
6. Nicknames for collections of sites
Firefox allows nicknames out of the box, but I'm not sure if you can just type the nickname and get the page(s). That's a pretty cool feature for Opera.
7. Tab closing
Tab Mix Plus
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1122/
8. Instant back
I'm reasonably sure you can change this behaviour in Firefox with about:config. Don't feel like looking it up, though.
9. Page zoom
Not too sure about this one. I don't have any problems normally with just hitting CTRL and rolling the scroll wheel.
10. Crash recovery
Tab Mix Plus
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1122/
OR
SessionManager
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2324/
All said, I'd rather this stuff be available via extension than built into the browser. In an ideal world, a browser would browse the web. That's it. Nothing fancy. Then, if you need additional functionality, you install extensions. Much like how Firefox works now, though feature creep has started in FF to a certain extent. In fact, I think this is how ALL software should work. Imagine how cool it would be if MS Word was a plain-Jane word processor with a minimal memory and HD space footprint and gave you the option of installing features as you need them. - Xiol, on 10/12/2007, -6/+33TabMix does 1, 3, 7 and 10.
2 is definately handled by an extension because I used to have it installed. Not sure what it is though but there definately is one that does this.
4: CTRL+-
5. The rewind feature makes no sense to me. I don't follow links in Google if I'm going to go to more than one - I open them in background tabs.
6. Hmm. This isn't explained well either. Create a folder of your news sites in Firefox, then use "Open in tabs" when viewing that folder in your bookmarks menu.
8. Pretty sure you can change the way this works in about:config or get an extension to do it (does Fasterfox do this?)
9: CTRL+ +/-
I've never been able to use Opera for more than a few hours. I've tried, believe me. Extensions are the beauty of Firefox because I initially get a basic browser that I can then add my own features too without having to resort to wading through the vast number of menus Opera's config box has turning off stuff I don't want.
This whole "Opera is faster than Firefox" stuff is crap. I've not once thought that Opera was rendering pages faster than Firefox. Saying Firefox starts slower isn't an argument at all since you should, in theory, only be opening your browser once - why keep shutting and opening it if you're browsing around?
I sound like such a Firefox fanboy, but I'm not. Apart from IE, if you're happy with the browser you've got, stick to it. But don't come up with these crappy lists trying to out-do Firefox. If there's people out there that want a feature, an extension will be made for it. - hotpepper, on 10/12/2007, -23/+47The thing I love about Firefox is that it has only what I need, and I have full control over adding what I want. It doesn't bloat itself with things I don't need.
- karel, on 10/12/2007, -20/+42the thing I love about Opera is that I don't have to go and look for an extension, all the features I love are already there
One thing missing from the list: mouse gestures. I can't live without them. And yes I do know that there is an extension for Firefox - but again I don't have to go looking for it. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20who trying to start a war between opera and ff (which are both capable of doing any of those things)? arent there more important things to do, like mock IE for not even supporting CSS, let alone tabbed browsing or anything post-2001 for that matter
- sailor, on 10/12/2007, -12/+30Firefox has extensions for everything...the aricle is misleading if comparing it to standard firefox install. The extension feature is there for precisely that reason.
Extensions for Opera? Still looking....firefox extensions don't require any looking...go to "extensions" dialog and click "Get more extensions"...they are all there...no looking required.... - templest, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18"9. Zoom
Hit Ctrl or Ctrl - to increase/decrease fonts without distorting the whole page as in Opera"
No, Firefox increases font sizes only. Opera even increases image sizes, div-width, etc. Everything is adapted so as to actually appear as if "zooming" into the page, instead of just making fonts bigger.
Valid points, however. - koweja, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17@pabster
The article alone mentions Firefox three times, not to mention the entire point of the article is to point out features that Opera has that FF does not. Guess what that make it? That's right, a comparision between the two browsers. - MattLat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15It also supports voice xml, which is superbly neato.
- Alphabet, on 10/12/2007, -13/+26And with firefox, even if you can't find any extension that suits your needs, you can just make your own.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+21I agree, but where's Firefox on my Razr? Opera Mini is really really amazing.
- bot001220, on 10/12/2007, -7/+19"No one is talking about Firefox here"
Which is why the article is inaccurate. ALL 10 of these CAN be done in firefox and a couple other browsers.
"but again I don't have to go looking for it."
HA! you try to make it seem like you have to go on some kind of easter egg hunt to "go" look for these mysterious and foreboding extensions... when in reality it takes literally *seconds* to find and install. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+19I think firefox would beat opera in features because of the extensions. If the author wanted really to beat firefox, he should've spoken about the memory problems with firefox or the more customizable interface of opera. That's my reason to switch to opera again, the moment it started to render websites correctly enough.
- ctheory, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12That's probably the best feature that I use daily. While i'm ironing something and getting ready for work, I can pick a few digg articles and have Opera speak them over my surround system. That's handy.
That, and with multiple tabs, Opera just feels lighter/faster, while FF can start to feel drug down with memory issues.
BUT - Really, I don't know why we're arguing about the two. They're, by far, the two best browsers on the market. Fast, loaded with features, and secure, not to mention they're taking huge steps to abide by the CSS laws, while Internet Exploder keeps falling further behind. We shouldn't argue, lets just enjoy our browsers. :) - wbreim, on 10/12/2007, -11/+20Opera is like that really nice car that you don't really want.
- ryanmatthew, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15I have been using opera for a few years now. I have to say I love it. I install it and it has all the features I want.
- Gnascher, on 10/12/2007, -2/+101GB RAM for firefox? Don't be silly.
I've been browsing all day, and have about 8 tabs open. Currently using about 100MB. Granted, that's not as svelte as you're claiming Opera to be, but it's a far cry from a gig. I have also not validated your claim that Opera only uses about 40MB RAM either. I have it installed, but I don't use it much beyond testing compatiblitiy. - dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -23/+31" Why is this getting modded down? "
Because one fanboy ***** votes down, and the rest follow suit. Let the lemmings run Digg. - saska, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Just so we're clear, porn opening in front of your mom is not a failing of the browser.
- Gnascher, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Followup to my earlier post.
Opera ain't as light as you would like to think. After posting, I opened opera, and opened three tabs, and already the memory footprint is up to 60MB.
6 tabs? 75MB
8 tabs ... just like firefox in my earlier post? 89MB.
Firefox, with identical tabs is at 104MB. I'm not going to quibble over about 15Meg of RAM usage, especially considering that with my installed extensions, I have way more functionality available to me than the default Opera. - zouhair, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Opera = Good Memory
FF = BAD MEMORY - hobophobe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Personally, Opera was my first non-IE browser back in the day. I was skeptical about switching to firefox (then phoenix) but eventually I made the transition. I still like Opera. Currently have Opera 9, and I like it but it has some bugs that, well, bug me. That, and I really love the customizability of Firefox via userchrome. I love that Firefox is open source. Opera still rocks, and it really boils down to a personal choice.
- saisumimen, on 10/12/2007, -11/+16WTF? what exactly to you mean by "it would not feel so smoothy integrated as it does in Opera."
I've used Opera and now use firefox and have no problem with "smooth intergration". - MouseCircus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I still fail to see the "bloat" issue that Opera has. How is Opera bloated? Just because it has a multitude of features? It's still a smaller package than even Firefox. It's not like every feature on Opera is enabled by default, because it's not.
- RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The one reason I use Opera is not on his list - and that's the intelligent "fast forward" feature that it has. If you navigate to a site, say, that links to a lot of .jpg images... you click on the first one - it loads in the window. Do a mouse gesture to the right - and it loads the next image in sequence. You don't need to go back to the index page to step forward in the list of images.
The forward button will also seem to find the "next" button on most pages - so you don't have to actually find it and click it yourself. You just right-click and drag right... It's pretty smart. - kowgod, on 10/12/2007, -3/+81GB of RAM? Stop smoking!
- chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4My extentions get updated automatically as they become available. Which isn't often because they don't need to be updated with each and every Firefox update. But in the rare event that an update would cause an extension to not work, there is usually someone out there already fixing the extension, seeing as all changes to Firefox are pretty transparent..
- NoOnEx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Opera does MDI tabs, firefox doesn't...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11Firefox with a few extensions can do everything I need it to do, including many of the ones on the list. That's a pretty weak list.
Anyways with both Opera & Firefox installed, I find myself using FFx 90% of the time. Opera is just too crippled for me, not enough tools and not the way I like my tools either. But operas okay for light browsing. - FogDogg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The best feature in Opera is holding the right mouse button and using the scroll wheel to get a list of tabs, and scroll through them... It's the thing I miss most when I'm using firefox.
- ionut, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5This 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. - ctheory, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Opinion...you've done nothing to back that up. I prefer Opera Beta 9 over FF because I can actually browse all day and not have memory leaks that drag my system to *****.
- tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I say why have a war between Opera and Firefox? They're both excellent browsers, and well it all comes down to opinion on which one you use.
I myself don't have a preference because when it comes to web browsing, I use both Firefox and Opera. They're both very similar browsers. I don't use all the extra features in Opera, and the only extension I have in Firefox is Fasterfox, becuase I actually noticed a difference in speed. With that installed, Opera and Firefox are neck and neck when it comes to rendering pages, yeah Opera is faster at starting up, but so what? I just want to get on the internet...
Hey, as long as you're not using IE, you're cool. Firefox and Opera users shouldn't be fighting. - MadOgre, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7One thing Firefox has that Opera doesn't: Memory leaks. I used to use Firefox, and use it all the time. Firefox slows down and can crash when used constantly all day. Opera doesn't do that.
- bot001220, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7"But if Firefox comes up with an update, every extension that you have needs to be updated"
there was an update the other day, nothing... let me repeat: NOT A SINGLE ONE of my extensions needed to be updated. the only reason extensions needed to be updated last time was because the extension engine itself was being re-desinged from scratch.
"...every extension that you have needs to be updated"
if only there were some kind of menu item that brought up all your extensions and had "update" buttons next to their names that would automatically download the latest version... if only firefox was open source so thousands of people can look into the 1kb extensions and write in the code fix (IF at all needed) to make it work - chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8Actually, almost half of what is on the list is taken care of by one extension (Tab Mix Plus). As for smooth integration, all well-made extensions appear as though they were packaged with Firefox. Finding extensions is easy, and the well-made ones are usually the "Most Downloaded". I have no problem using Firefox or Opera, but this article is misleading and has *clearly* been written by someone that did not take much time to do any actual research in what other browsers can and cannot do. Reported inaccurate.
- WalterDirt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I love Firefox because it keeps me cool with its fountain of refreshing memory leaks.
/intel mac user - discoloda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3not acording to Secunia, Opera: http://secunia.com/product/4932/ FF: http://secunia.com/product/4227/
Opera is designed for the average user, so they dont have to hunt extensions down.
lets put a list of things Opera has by default that no other browser has:
Flash
IRC
Mail
Bittorrent
mouse gestures
voice commands
voice reader
widgets
etc...
But then you have the power users who dont care about how much better Opera is for the average user and try convince loved ones that FF is better; but is it better for them? - ubermorph, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I use opera exclusively, but I marked this as inaccurate...
- whatsamatta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4And he doesn't even list my favorites: Paste & Go right click choice--save a keystroke every time you want to paste a URL or search term. Also, the way Opera does tabs beats anything out there, with the possible exception of IE7. Built in RSS support.
I use Firefox too, and prefer Opera. Isn't it better to have a full featured, well-thought-out interface from the get-go, rather than having to hunt for add-ins that may make it work the way it should? - sert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I agree, Opera seems a bit nicer and cleaner all around. But the library of Firefox extensions is just so incredibly great that I would never switch unless somehow Opera got equivalent versions of my favorites in whatever plugin format they use, or just incorporated their features into the browser itself. If that happened I would switch in a split second.
I already realize that Opera has support for user scripts a la greasemonkey, but thats hardly the same thing, I dont even use any user scripts. - levi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Agreed. I've used Firefox since v0.4 and I first tried Opera back in 2001 and have tried every version it's a good browser it works well so does Safari they've got great features, and IE7 is very promising but I haven't been able to duplicate what I can do in Firefox. I can't force new window targets to open in the same tab, I've tried the Opera java scripts but was never able to get it to work. And Ad-block none of them come close to what you can do with Firefox extensions.
That said I hope Opera keeps getting better competition is good for every one. - compilererror, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Disclaimer: I use Opera, but I loved and used Firefox for a few years. Both browsers are great.
On the surface, yes, Firefox does do most of these things. What some of you are missing is the small distinctions that Opera adds to the mix.
1) Duplicate this tab
Opera also duplicates the history of the tab, which is tremendously useful. Firefox does not.
2) Go to URL
I never use this, because it's extremely rare that a web site would list a URL in text alone. This seems like an archaic feature that's not interesting.
3) Reload every 30 seconds
It's built in. Sure, you could write a FF extension for it, but this is such a nifty and easy feature to implement; why not simply include it? I love extensions as much as the next person, but they're not the be-all end-all. Would you want to install a separate extension for each new font you used? Sometimes you want stuff built in.
4) Fit to window width
That person who said you should just get a bigger monitor is spoiled and unrealistic. The usefulness of this speaks for itself
5) Rewind
It's nice.. but I don't think this is an amazing feature
6) Nicknames for collections of sites
I like this, because it gives my bookmarks a very google-esque feel. Just type in what I'm looking for.
Also, F4 in opera is what really makes it all come together for me. You can put cool stuff on that side panel and hide it at any time. It's all nicely integrated and well.. just try it.
7) Tab closing
I like it.
8) Instant back
In most situations, it's true that you don't have to wait long for Firefox to reload the last page. But when you encounter realllllly slow sites, you'll be thankful for this
9) Page zoom
Okay, this one is the least understood of all. Opera's page zoom, unlike Firefox's Ctrl /-, zooms the pictures and EVERYTHING on the page, along with the text. In FF, go to any page with pictures, or flash, or what-have-you, zoom the text up a couple of notches, and see if the page still looks halfway decent.
This feature is great for those stylish sites that make text miniscule.. or if you're sitting far from your monitor.
10) Crash recovery
This (and Opera's sessions) make the internet a very happy place.
Opera still has a long way to go, and many flaws that this site obviously doesn't list, but don't bash this list unless you know exactly what it is that Opera does differently than FF. - stretch611, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Personally I prefer Firefox. However, I do like Opera and I use it for a few sites that will not work with Firefox. I do not use sites that will not work with either.
I think if you are the type of user that wants everything to just work without a lot of effort on your part Opera is better. If you enjoy tweaking, Firefox is better and more flexible. With Firefox If you don't want mouse gestures you do not need to install them or have the associated overhead. However with the additional flexibility of Firefox's extensions comes an increased risk of memory leaks any other problems.
As a web developer, I use w3c standards and both have pretty good support so I will use both to test a new web application. However, firefox's web developer extension and javascript console are invaluable tools so I will use firefox much more.
In conclusion both are very good browsers and your own needs will decide which you will use. I do not think that people should try to flame each other over Opera vs Firefox, but focus their attention on getting people to leave internet explorer for a good browser. - samdu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I don't have anything against Opera other than the interface which I've never liked. So, much like you, even though I install Opera from time to time (normally after a new release), I always end up back with FF.
- KriLL3.2™, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"i know it uses the IE engine"
That's like saying a pie is made from rotten fish guts instead of flour... Avant and Maxthon and other IE re-skins are all useless, Opera/Firefox/Safari are king, I preffer FF myself... on Mac Safari is best ofc, I dont enjoy opera's bar ridden interface...
I got portable Firefox on my ipod, dock it at work and avoid the horror that is IE. -
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