What is Digg?258 Comments
- zizzybaloobah, on 10/12/2007, -11/+89I personally prefer Firefox, but is it really fair to compare a 2 beta products with a final release product?
And since when does software have to *look* significantly different to make it worth an upgrade (I guess we can thank Microsoft for that philosophy) . - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -10/+75Opera has fans just like Firefox. Don't act like FF is the only browser with a community.
- BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -7/+48I agree, it's not fair to compare beta products with releases. I guess they wanted to compare the very latest of each technology.
- barktwiggs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+35A pretty non-biased review for the most part. Though, they erroneously state in the features that Opera does not have any themes. I guess they didn't notice the down-loadable skins on the Opera site you can load up by doing shift+F12. Just a minor thing. Other than that, Opera took the crown for for stable memory usage, load-up, and of course, Acid2.
- Popdmb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34They also comment about Opera's lack of marketshare and wonder why it's behind the other two. It's my favorite -- a really light browser and is great for all the reasons you just mentioned. IMO, I think it gets shafted because of its name. Safari (despite not being reviewed in this article) and Firefox have a certain flair about them. Opera...I don't know. I conjure up images of fat women singing and glass breaking.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+28Safari won't blow it away because Safari is only on Macs. and Macs are smaller in number than Windows or Linux boxes.
- cloudkiller, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23I totally agree with the comment, "[opera] gets shafted because of its name." i resisted using opera for a long time just because it sounded like crap. i didn't want to go around and tell people, "i use opera," that just makes me sound like a tool.
having used opera now for several years, i love it. i still am a firefox fanboy (since beta 0.3) but i can admit that opera has a much more polished feel. - mookieXL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Avant is only wrapper for IE6
- Skeksis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21I've used them all and I still love Opera. I think anyone who enjoys the firefox experience should be willing to give Opera a try. If you're looking for an even better browser experience I think the last place you can look to after firefix would be Opera. And now that 9 isn't Beta I have no reason to use FF anymore. Give it a shot, you may find yourself switching over,
- MikeSD34, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18I disagree, IE is the web developers worst nightmare, I've had no problems with Safaris rendering compared to Firefox ( though there have been some JavaScript issues, that is due to my own lack of experience rather than any real Safari JavaScript issues )
- Cglass, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18That's like choosing between shooting yourself and hanging yourself; you have to ask yourself, why?
- tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21Right now, the king (at least for me) is Opera 9, and will be until Firefox can fix that memory leak.
- mrmeander, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19I updated the article to reflect the Skins feature. It's kind of buried. Sorry for the oversight.
- darkzealot89, on 10/12/2007, -9/+25No, but firefox has a broader community and programmers since there are countless extensions to add. Opera is not as mainstream (not as many opera buttons, or ads compared to the spreadfirefox.com) so it does not gain as many users in the same timeframe as Firefox does.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21I think it depends on the user, the OS, and the requirements.
I personally MUCH prefer Opera 9 on Windows over Firefox and IE7, however on my Ubuntu box at home Opera looks like hell, and I like Firefox way better (doesn't hog memory like the windows version either!).
However, for a corporate intranet web application that relies on ActiveX you've got nothing but IE. Firefox + ActiveX = Crap so that doesn't fly either.
Really it's just a tool for a job like any other application so there's no need to get possessive or defensive about something so trivial as a web browser.... - stubadub, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Opera 9 doesn't cost anything to install. They've been free for a few versions now.
- endtime, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17I used Maxthon for a bit but have converted to Opera 9. It's fast, stable, has tons of features, and it's fully configurable (including the UI). I don't think the name sounds any weirder than Firefox (which I find to be very slow).
- danielg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Glad to see the Opera browser finally get positive recognition. Go Opera!
- zizzybaloobah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13@popdmd: The reason for the low market share might have something to do with the name, but I'll wager it was mainly because it wasn't free (until a few months ago). No doubt if it had been free from the get-go, it would be enjoying a significantly higher market share.
Now if PC vendors would as many browsers for people to try as they do dial-up services and other crap software (R U listening Dell?), then you could make a more meaningful market share comparison. - LemonHerb, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15I don't really care what browser the rest of the world uses. Opera has been my main browser for the better part of a decade.
- rspeed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Uh, as a web developer I can't help but wonder why you'd say it's my worst nightmare. That title EASILY goes to IE since half the time there's some CSS bug or simple lack of support I have to work around. What works in Safari almost always works in Gekko browsers (and vice versa).
Care to elaborate? - renegadeafk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12opera has built in adblock its callled "block content" just right click and block content just like adblock
- theonlyvlad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13I think that those who say Opera has a cluttered feel to it haven't given it a long enough look. You can remove almost all those toolbars from the screen and it will look just like Firefox. "But I don't want to have to dig thorugh preferences to make my browser like that" -- well, from a firefox user's point of view, you the FF user, are willing to spend that time downloading extentions to add functionality to the browser.
So, since Opera has most of the functionality that users usually download (adblocker, no script, session manager), why not give Opera that time to clean up its interface?
And the crazy thing is.... even with all the "clutter" opera still runs faster. I have widgets and Email in Opera, and it outperforms Mozilla just by the feel of speed.
Opera does lose out in Extensions though, when it comes to more obscure things. Widgets aren't a substitute for extentions I agree. There are some really cool things in FF, like IE tab (at work I have an application that requires IE and nothing else, so IE tab would have saved me an extra app open).
So it's a personal preference. If you really need that functionality that some random extention gives you, you're locked into FF. If you just want good basic browsing, nothing better than Opera. - riplikethat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15Opera is and always be my first choice. I use Firefox as secondary, only as a quick replacement for IE. Opera is the first thing I install after a new windows installation.. well, that and drivers :P
- Atavachron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Opera (since Opera 8 beta2 http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/windows/800b2/index.dml ) has a white-list method to prevent Phising attempts:
"This release features whitelisting of top-level domains that have implemented anti-homographic character policies or otherwise limited the available set of characters to prevent URL spoofing through use of internationalized domain names (IDN).
Registrars wishing to be added to Opera's whitelist must inform Opera Software of their policies and have these approved."
"Added whitelist of safe top-level domains for IDN.
TLDs are considered safe if they have implemented anti-homographic character policies or otherwise limited the available set of characters to prevent spoofing.
Current whitelist contains the following top-level domains: no, jp, de, se, kr, tw, cn, at, dk, ch, and li
List is colon-separated and included in opera6.ini. It is updated automatically in the Opera version check.
Domain names from other top-level domains that contain characters outside Latin 1 will be displayed in punycode, an encoding syntax designed for use with IDNA, specified in RFC3492." - Catachresis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11what? there's only one Bowser, and he's King of the Koopas. this is ridic...
oh wait that's not right - hollywoodcole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Opera is really the underdog, I think I have been converted from firefox!
- rexgrundy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Lynx FTW
- EdLesMann, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"Plus in Opera when you open a link in a new tab it jumps straight to the tab, I hate that." - SkeletaLlama
Instead of opening a window to a page (tab), tell it to open in background page (right click link).
Even better is if you have a scroll mouse that allows for clicking. Then (by default) it opens the link in a background page (tab). That is SO helpful when browsing places like digg. I read front page, click on all the articles that look interesting sending them to background page (tab), and then scroll through them a my pace without having to always go back to the front page.
Note I ( tab ) because most ppl/browsers call them tabs but Opera tends to call them pages. I said pages so you knew what to look for and mentioned tabs so you knew what I was talking about. - Loath, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I love Opera because it's fast, displays pages how I think they should (I am a web developer, so that means something), mouse gestures are incredibly useful for quick browsing, I like the customization, the features like the easy zooming, and I don't want to have install a billion and a half Firefox mods to get the same results. I also have to use IE and Firefox so I can test how pages look on the major browsers, but I currently put my preference on Opera.
- Septimus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Opera personally. I'm even finding the widgets as useful extension replacements as the developments mature.
- gmillerd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9On that note there is neoplanet and dont forget lynx
- ThePict, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9evilTak wins the thread! I'm convinced. No more Opera or Firefox for me!
- rarkai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I await the day that the internet is only available to people who know how to use it. Which excludes most internet explorer users.
- EdLesMann, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9dont knock lynx!
Seriously, whenever I need to just view information quickly and i know it will be just text, lynx is a VERY light and quick browser. Plus whenever i want to scrape information off of a webpage (for whatever reason ) using lynx in a shell script is extreamly quick and efficient.
Back in college I had a prof that would post updates. He also liked to put all sorts of crazy graphics and things like a java applet that turned your mouse pointer into a star with about 50 other stars that moved behind it. IT SUCKED trying to load that page. So I wrote a bash script to lynx the source, scrape out the last update and dump it into a text file on my desktop.
Lynx may not have all the fancy GUI but it still has MANY uses. It def is my second choice browser (behind Opera :-).
(sorry if I sound like a extreame fanboy or something, but Lynx has helped me so many times and saved me a lot of frustration...so i generally frown upon ppl knocking it :-D ) - bjohnsonwsu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Re: skyshock21
http://my.opera.com/community/customize/skins/info/?id=4236 Dapper Drake skin for Opera. Sure, it's not GTK, but it looks damn good on Ubuntu. - arachnist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8On my p2 400 with 256MB everything except for Opera and Konqueror is simply sluggish, Seamonkey and Kazehakase are also useable but none if them looks as good as Opera does and Firefox is simply bloated (even when compared to Seamonkey, the renamed Mozilla Suite). And yes, i'm running gentoo with kde here, and everything runs smoothly.
btw, Does Firefox (or any gecko-based browser for the record) pass acid2? Konqueror and Opera 9 do. - whfsdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9No, the # of people will determine which one is more popular. Popular doesn't mean better.
- bjohnsonwsu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8...and Opera http://www.opera-usb.com/
- lonekorean, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I hate to admit this, but I do like a little superficial visual upgrade. It's just nice to have something a little different to look at, even if it really is the same old thing.
- RexKwando, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7That was a well written article detailing all the latest features of all three browsers. I don't think this will change the fan base of either of the three communities, but each will have a better understanding of the other after reading this article.
- heavyd14, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@IMustBeEmo
Of course, 243KB is such a hardship. Try using µTorrent ([Mu]Torrent or uTorrent if it doesn't show up right). And BitTorrent isn't just for pirated content.
But it is nice that they are pushing out the client to a greater number of users so they will be more likely to use such an option and more likely to seed because the client is running whenever you run your browser. - sprag80, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I'm in love with Opera 9, and I'm a long time FF user. Opera is quicker, lighter, more stable and just has a more polished feel than FF. My Google home page loads in a snap on Opera, not so on FF. Both are great browsers, but Opera 9 is just a bit better.
- Drakazz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Opera is my Queen :)
Other browsers are not as user friendly, or as friendly for me.
IE will never be a real techie's thing, I suppose.
I don't really want Firefox to win - but what can you do? - it's not my choice :)
The funny thing in the article is "Memory Usage in MB Loading Six Tabs" with "IE 6.0". Does it really have tabs?:O
The article so far shows that Opera is the best, and personally it is easiest to use for me too :)
It's so dodgy when using IE, or even more - Mozilla Firefox. - pdiddle, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10As just said above, I find the reason I prefer Firefox more than Opera (I dont use a windows based OS, so IE7 doesnt count) is down to the brilliant extensions and themes. Not to mention, it's open source allowing a potentially much faster development cycle and very fast bug fixing (so fast that exploits found are patched before they can be exploited).
Opera only recently removed Ads which I used to find as a huge reason never to use the browser. And I believe it is the reason why Opera has had such a low user base all this time. It has undoubtedly gotten better, however I am not a fan of it's interface either, or the look of it which isnt as nice as the GTK+ look of Firefox. - mookieXL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Userjs could be compared to Greasemonkey scripts, but not extensions.
- covertbadger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@gd007
Just because Firefox is open source, doesn't mean anyone can come along and add code into it. If you don't believe me, make a change and submit it. Can't do it? That's because code submissions are heavily vetted, and you don't get commit access to the source until you are well established and trusted. - wezzul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6A corporate intranet application written in ActiveX? Poor form...
WEZ - Cglass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Does that make them mistresses?
- Cglass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If FireFox was the web-standard, web-development would be like slicing warm butter ... mmm toast
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