The Opera Thread!

The Opera Thread · Updates, Tweaks, & More

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Welcome to the NBR Opera Thread! Opera is an incredibly powerful browser with nearly-limitless customizations. This thread is a small project of mine that aims to make it easier for NBR's Opera users to share various tips and resources with each other.

I do include the Opera Basics and Opera Extras sections to help new users get familiar with Opera's unique interface, shortcuts and unusual features, but the main focus here will be on the many tweaks and improvements that can be made. For a more complete guide, see the official Opera Help (press F1) or see a listing of unique Opera features.

The latest version of Opera is 12.15. See changelog.



For the latest dev version, see Future of Opera below.

Opera Basics

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Migrating to Opera
Moving to Opera from another browser is easy, you just have to know where to look. Click on the Opera Menu button > Settings > Import and Export, and choose the format of the data you want to import.

The next step is finding the functionality of your old browser in Opera. There's many ways that you can do so: read on, especially for the Opera Extensions, Widgets, Custom User Scripts section below.

Opera's Toolbars
The uniqueness and flexibility of Opera's layout is at once its largest advantage and greatest disadvantage. I'll overview the main components, but focus on the unique tweaks and ways to fully utilize these features. For detailed descriptions of the toolbars, see here.

Toolbars
Opera has more available toolbars than any of the other browsers, although most are disabled by default. Pressing Shift + F12 > Toolbars tab will let you choose which ones you want:

• Main Bar
• Bookmarks Bar
• Tab Bar
• Status Bar
• Address Bar
• View Bar
• Navigation Bar
• Start Bar

I've bolded the ones that you will probably want to enable for the most fluid and familiar interface; keep the rest disabled. Since there's so much packed into the Address Bar and Tab Bar, I'll go into a bit more detail about those two.

Opera's Address Bar

• Search
  Opera still retains a search box, but there is no function there that cannot be replicated in the address bar. You can initiate a search by typing any string in the address field and hitting Enter; this will search using the default search engine. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
  
  You can initiate a search in any search engine by typing an abbreviation followed by a space and your query. So, a Wikipedia search for Lenovo would go something like this:
  
  Code:

  w lenovo

  A few built-in searches include:
  
  Code:

  b = Bing
  f = Find in current page
  g = Google
  h = Find in browsing history
  w = Wikipedia
  

  Better yet, you can fully customize these search keys and create new searches as well. See here for how to add a new custom search engine.
  
• Accessing the Start Bar
  The Start Bar is quite handy, and I recommend enabling it. Its default behavior is then to appear once you click inside the address field, and from there, you can access your home page, go through your bookmarks and top-visited pages, and any other buttons you may add yourself.

Opera's Tab Bar
As the first browser to adopt tabbed browsing in 2000, Opera's tried quite a few experiments since then. Here's a brief list of different features that you may or may not be familiar with from other browsers:

• Tab stacking
  You can create a group of tabs by simply dragging one tab onto another. An arrow appears to the right of this tab group, allowing you to expand or collapse the stack. It's a very useful feature when you have a ton of different tabs open.
• Visual tabs
  I personally don't find it very useful, but you can display your tab bar as a row of pretty thumbnails previews if you choose. Right-click on tab bar > Customize > Enable Thumbnails in Tabs and then drag to desired size.
• Duplicate tabs
  This isn't anything special, but sadly, it still requires an extension in Firefox. To duplicate a tab in Opera, right-click the tab > Clone Tab.
• Private tabs
  Private browsing (no history, no cookies, etc) is available in Opera on a tab-per-tab basis, unlike Firefox, IE9, and Chrome. Right-click on the tab bar > New private tab. Also note that Ctrl + Shift + Q simultaneously closes all private tabs in Opera.
• Relocation of the tab bar
  The tab bar can easily be moved to the left, right, or bottom of the window by right-clicking on the tab bar > Tab Bar Placement and selecting the appropriate option.
• Undo closed tab
  The convenient trash can on the right side of the tab bar allows you to reopen closed tabs and popups, and as far as I know, there is no limit to the history as long as Opera remains open, so the list can get quite long at times.

For further tab bar help, see here. Also, note that many tab behaviors can be customized in Opera Preferences: Ctrl + F12 > Advanced > Tabs (ie, choosing to open new tabs next to the active tab by default).

Opera's Speed Dial
For Speed Dial help, see here.

Opera's Panels
For more information on the Panels side pane, see here.

Opera Extras

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Reading Mail & News Feeds in Opera
For more information, see the Opera pages on the Mail and News Feed features.

Do Not Display Mail Panel Sidebar Automatically
Since Opera 11, the default behavior for the mail/newsfeed sidebar is to open automatically whenever you read your mail or feeds. If you would rather disable this auto-opening, you can easily change the setting in opera:config (covered in more depth in the Opera Advanced Configuration section). Go to opera:config in the addressbar and search for Auto Mail Panel Toggle, uncheck the setting, and press Save.

Syncing Opera Across Computers
Opera Link allows you to sync many aspects of your Opera configuration to any other Opera install (including Opera on your phone!). As this synchronization is now secure and encrypted, passwords can also be optionally synced. After creating a free My Opera account, you can configure Opera to synchronize your settings there.

A similar feature was added to Firefox recently as well, called Firefox Sync.

Mouse Gestures
In my opinion, Opera's built-in mouse gestures are the single most useful feature for fast browsing. To activate mouse gestures, go to Ctrl + F12 > Advanced > Shortcuts > Enable mouse gestures. Here's a tutorial on mouse gestures.

Many of the simple commands are intuitive, although you may want to adjust the shortcuts for more complex commands. This can easily be done in the same place as above. When you modify the default Opera Standard mouse gesture setup, a modified set is automatically created for you, allowing you to experiment with settings and revert if necessary.

Tweaking Opera

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Current Opera Quirks & Fixes

• Small text in Gmail compose and Amazon
  Caused by a fix to the font-handling in Opera; however, some sites (including Gmail & Amazon) have manual font-specifications for Opera that worked before the fix. Until the sites fix the issue, a CSS fix is possible for Gmail, and you can mask Opera as Firefox to fix Amazon (go to Amazon, right-click Edit Site Preferences... > Network > Browser Identification > Mask as Firefox).
• Amazon "Look Inside" feature not supported
  There's no reason Opera can't work with this feature. Again, masking Opera as Firefox will fix this issue (go to Amazon, right-click Edit Site Preferences... > Network > Browser Identification > Mask as Firefox).
• Text in PDFs is transparent with custom transparent skin
  This is an issue if you use a custom Opera skin that makes use of transparency (IBIS inspire Transparent, Z1-Glass, V7-Glass, etc). Unfortunately, there is no fix (it'll have to come from Opera) as of 11.61, and the only workaround is to force PDFs in Opera to open externally (go to Ctrl + F12 > Advanced > Downloads and click on applications/pdf in the list, click Edit... and choose Open with default application).

Opera Advanced Configuration
You can always customize Opera using the Ctrl + F12 and Shift + F12 preference panes, but what if you want to change a setting that's not available?

opera:config
Go to opera:config, and you'll be taken to a full list of many advanced backend settings. Use the Quick Search box to find the setting you want to change.

For a list of different settings you can tweak in opera:config, see Tamil's amazing compilation here.

Incidentally, here's a more complete list of useful " opera:___" commands that I won't go into depth about:

Code:

opera:about
opera:cache
opera:config
opera:debug
opera:drives
opera:help
opera:history
opera:historysearch
opera:memdebug
opera:plugins
opera:webdatabases
opera:webstorage

Opera .ini Files
Another place to go to fully tweak Opera's advanced settings is the AppData directory, with Opera's .ini configuration files. In Windows, this is located at

HTML:

C:\Users\<Account Name>\AppData\Roaming\Opera\Opera

You can edit Speed Dial settings, tooltip settings, and more here. Also, notice that the bookmarks.adr file is also located here.

A fair warning: You can do some serious damage to your Opera install by messing with these .ini files. Be careful, and always know what you're doing. Also, do not edit these files while Opera is running!

Making Opera Faster
There's some tweaks that you can make to Opera so that it'll run even faster. Some of these are especially useful on slower computers and subnotebooks that have weaker CPUs.

• Disable sliding animations
  Go to opera:config > Enable UI Animations and uncheck and press Save. This will eliminate the slow and sometimes resource-intensive sliding effects with tab changes, Speed Dial rearrangements, etc.
• Disable smooth scrolling
  Press Ctrl + F12 > Advanced > Browsing > uncheck Smooth scrolling. This is more up to personal preference, but smooth scrolling is more CPU-intensive for certain web elements.
• Selectively load plugin content
  Press Ctrl + F12 > Advanced > Content > check Enable plug-ins only on demand. This has both speed and security benefits, and is akin to Flashblock and NoScript for Firefox. Most commonly, Adobe Flash content is not loaded until you click the play icon, allowing you to load some pages much faster.
• Block ads
  For more details, see below Adblock in Opera section.

Opera Extensions, Widgets, Custom User Scripts
With custom userscripts akin to GreaseMonkey for Firefox aficionados (added with Opera 8), then a built-in widget engine (added with Opera 9), and later extensions (added with Opera 11), there's many ways to customize Opera. If there's a feature you like in Firefox/Chrome/IE, chances are, you'll be able to emulate it in Opera.

Extensions
Opera Extensions are not quite as versatile as Firefox's implementation, but they still make extending Opera's feature set far easier than before. Manage your installed extensions by pressing Ctrl + Shift + E. Browse and install extensions here. Here's a list of extensions that I personally find very useful:

• WOT
  Similar to the WOT products for other browsers, this extension allows you to customize when you're alerted to user-rated dangerous sites.
• YouTube AdsFree
  Tweaks some of the settings in YouTube and removes both the pop-up and mandatory-play ads.
• FastestTube - YouTube Video Downloader
  Adds download buttons to YouTube videos, allowing you to download in a variety of formats.
• Opera AdBlock
  Blocks ads in Opera. See Adblock in Opera below.

Other popular and well-loved extensions:

• Tab Vault
  This extension saves tabs that you want to view for later, without keeping them open and wasting resources.
• ImagePreviewer
  When hovering the mouse cursor over a link, this extension shows an image preview.
• Gmail on Speed Dial (Speed Dial)
  Adds a speed dial box with a quick preview of your Gmail inbox. Note that this extension will not sync across Opera Link even if speed dial sync is enabled.
• Gismeteo Weather Forecast (Speed Dial)
  Adds a box with weather information to your speed dial. Note that this extension will not sync across Opera Link even if speed dial sync is enabled.
• Facebook Preview (Speed Dial)
  Adds a box to your speed dial displaying Facebook notifications, messages, etc. Note that this extension will not sync across Opera Link even if speed dial sync is enabled.

Widgets
Opera also has a built-in widget engine. Many of the functionalities that were added through widgets early on are now replaced by Opera Extensions, but there are still some nice widgets worth checking out:

• SimAquarium
  A fun and relaxing virtual aquarium game, although updates have been discontinued. It has spawned many more up-to-date clones, however.
• touchtheSky Weather
  A simple and good-looking weather widget. Another good alternative to a weather Speed Dial.

Userscripts
Opera supports user JavaScript, files that enhance site functionality when a page is loaded. Learn how to install user JavaScripts in Opera here.

Again, Extensions have replaced most of the previously-maintained userscripts, but there may be some good ones yet. Here's a few places you can look for Opera userscripts:

• Userscripts.org
  More well-known as a GreaseMonkey script repository, Userscripts does have some Opera userscripts as well.
• UserJS.org
  UserJS is an exclusively-Opera-Javascript site. Now defunct, but they had many great scripts back in the day.

Adblock in Opera
There are several ways to block ads in Opera. In the past, the built-in manual adblock function and custom userscripts were the main methods, however, extensions now make adblocking far easier.

• OperaAdblock (Extension)
  Personally, I like this adblocker. It works well for me, and it's a silent, no-worries, no-tinkering solution that allows you to select various blocklists.
• Adsweep (Extension)
  Another popular adblock extension; this one is based on the popular user JavaScript adblocker for Opera and Chrome before each launched extensions.
• NoAds Advanced (Extension)
  A third adblock extension that I personally have not tried, but is also quite popular.
• Manual adblocking (Built-In)
  Right-click on a webpage > Block Content... to Left-Click which elements on the page you want to block. By default, Opera generates a wildtype; a Shift-Left Click allows blocking of a single URL element. This method is good to patch up any uncommon stray ads that adblockers miss.
• Flash Block (Built-In)
  In addition to blocking graphic ads, it is also possible to block Flash and other plugin-type ads in Opera. This has the added benefit of ensuring that battery-draining Flash runs only when you want it to run. See Selectively load plugin content above.

Skinning Opera
Opera Skins are basically browser themes, and all of them can be found at the official Opera website.

You can choose which skin you want to apply at Shift + F12. There, you can also change the icon size (not all skins may work properly with this feature) and color hue. Also note that the Enable special effects box is a legacy item that does not really do anything with current Opera skins.

Selected Skins
Here are a few up-to-date skins that I feel are particularly well-made:

• Opera Stratiform Mod
  Most icons are Opera-default, with tweaks to the interface to get rid of rounded corners. This works especially well if you have a custom visual skin for Windows with straight edges. Currently, I use this skin.
• 11 Clean
  Another moderate deviation from the Opera look, this time with more rounded edges.
• IBIS inspire
  A red-accented Opera skin with a more custom look.

Note: There is currently an issue with skins that make use of transparent toolbars that makes PDFs render transparent text. See Current Opera Quirks & Fixes above for details.

The Selected Skins Are Ugly
If none of the skins seem to suit your fancy, you can try making your own. The Opera Forums are a good resource, as are these two guides ( 1, 2) by an Opera skin-maker (note that they are not updated for the latest Opera releases).

Customizing Toolbars & Shortcuts
In addition to applying skins, you can rearrange Opera's toolbars and buttons for a personalized configuration.

Customizing Opera's Toolbars
Toolbars can be customized in the Appearance control panel, at Shift + F12 > Toobars. Although there's limited rearrangement of some toolbars, you can shuffle around buttons as you please to customize the existing toolbars.

Buttons can be added at Shift + F12 > Buttons, by dragging the buttons to existing toolbars.

Maximizing Screen Real Estate
Depending on your configuration, Opera's toolbars and buttons occupy very little screen space. If you want to maximize your browsing space, there's a few things you can do, though.

• Decrease/get rid of empty space above tab bar when not maximized
  When an Opera window is not maximized, there's a massive glassy gap between the tab bar and the top of the window. True, the same thing exists in IE9 and Chrome, but the waste of some 20 pixels is a shame.
  Fortunately, there's a way to get rid of that gap: go to opera:config > Chrome Integration Drag Area (use the search function) and change the value to 0 or 1 and press Save. Maximize and then restore the window, and the new setting will be applied.

Adding New Buttons to Opera
You can even add new buttons that aren't included in the Opera standard install. A great list of these buttons can be found here (I actually have a Reload Every... button to replace the stock reload button on my Opera config).

Directions for adding and removing buttons is summarized at the Opera Wiki link above. Quoted below:

List of Opera Resources

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Here's a list of different websites useful for Opera users; most are mentioned above as well.

• Tamil's Opera FAQs, Tips, Tricks & Tweaks
• Opera Wiki
  Opera Wiki's Custom Buttons List
• Official Opera Forums

Future of Opera

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Opera Next
Opera 12.00 has been released as a final version! Get it at the link above!

Opera Developer Blogs
Follow Opera dev work at the Opera Desktop Team's blog. Additional Opera dev work on experimental and possible future features can be found at the Opera Labs page.

Future of the Opera Thread
This thread is very much a work in progress, as there's so much more I still want to add to it. Also, I would love to hear what else you guys would like to see!

Incomplete sections

• Opera's Speed Dial
• Opera's Panels
• Reading Mail & News Feeds in Opera

To be expanded soon

• Opera's Address Bar
• Making Opera Faster
• Extensions
• Widgets
• Table of Contents

· html based on design by justinkw1 & 2.0™ · browser by Opera Software ASA · maintained by MidnightSun​

 

Sweet! Looking good.

I started using Opera a few months ago and like it a lot. Firefox and Opera are my goto browsers. While I have chrome and IE installed, I rarely if ever use them.

And during that HP Touchpad firesale last year, my brother said that of all the browsers he tried, Opera was the one that got through and completed the orders.

 

I use Opera too and i think this a great idea. Tab stacking and mail are the two features i use the most.

 

Thanks for the encouragement guys, especially to justinkw1 & 2.0™ for the HTML design elements. I spent a bit of time modifying the colors and making an Opera O graphic for it

I want to have the thread mostly completed before making it public, but that's going to take a bit of time since I do have midterms coming up. If you have any suggestions, just let me know!

 

Looking good! It just goes to show how much of a difference HTML can make when you're designing and organizing an informational post with a lot of content!

 

Good luck on those midterms.

BTW, thanks for the credit but the truth is, I merely stood upon Justin's shoulders.

 

Woot! Nice thread Midnightsun. I am using the Opera Next (12.0) Alpha... It's surprisingly stable.

 

Possible nominee for the next Amazing Content Contest!

 

The Opera Thread! is now live to the public!

It's in a semi-finished state, with more work to be done to the few listed sections and expansion of several others. Feedback/suggestions are welcome!

 

Wow, an awesome thread

I'll definitely look into Opera. How does this compare to the default Safari 5 in OS X? Is it faster, uses less resources... etc?

 

Thanks

I'd suggest trying it out yourself and seeing how it compares. There are benchmarks, but they're all outdated since there have been some major backend changes between Opera 11.01 and 11.61. In addition, I think these benchmarks are all for Windows; Safari will most likely behave differently in the OSX environment.

 

I've tried Opera and used the somewhat primitive benchmark done easy from this site :

Test online your browser speed and CPU performance

Opera gets around 260.. Safari gets around 310..

 

There's clearly some pretty big variations on that site... they have an overall list of averaged benchmarks (screen capped below), but it's kinda strange...



Personally, though, I think the minimal speed differences between modern browsers nowadays make any of them a fine choice. For instance, there are definitely pages that load faster in IE9 than in Opera, and vice versa. Outside of speed, it all comes down to what else you want in a browser.

 

Might be good to mention the issue with transparent skins and pdf docs.

 

Ah yes, that's a good point to include. Entirely forgot about it since I've been using Stratiform for so long. Thanks for the tip

Added:

 

Thanks, there is another workaround, use a dark wallpaper and minimize everything else

I use Z1-glass and the dark wallpaper works nicely, not ideal, but it works. It doesn't have to be a uniform black allpaper either, just something mostly in dark colors. This is the only quirk that really bugs me about opera, but i don't mind living with it as opera has a nifty set of features, mail being my favorite, one program to browse and check all my e-mails.

 

Indeed

Opera's built-in mail client and feed reader is really powerful, although I only use the latter. It's been improved for 11.6, and word is that further improvements are coming in Opera 12.

 

I think you should add that you have to click on a youtube video in order to change the quality, volume level, full-screen it, etc.

Other than that, I've had nothing but a great experience with Opera. It starts up and loads pages for me faster than any other browser which makes me an overall, happy camper.

 

Wait, is it because you have Ctrl + F12 > Advanced > Content > Enable plugins only on demand enabled? I have that enabled, so it does require a click before the video displays.

Glad it's working out for you

 

For those who tested it do you think it is better than firefox or chrome??? AS i'm actually using chrome on my laptop

 

That is a very debatable topic. To me, yes, i'll use Opera over ff or chrome any time of the day, mainly because of the integrated mail client which makes everything i need when connected to the internet available to me in the same place. It also loads the web pages fast enough and doesn't slow down on my rigs so i don't see any reason to use another browser, granted my weakest rig is my N50 and while slightly old, it is far from weak. There are a very small amount of websites that do not seem to like Opera however, but the list is getting smaller and smaller with each new version of Opera.

 

Ok I'm still hesitating to switch to Opera...

 

Try, give it a few days of using it like you would chrome, change the skin, the default one is ugly too. If you like, stick with it, if you don't go back to ff or chrome The only problem i had with Opera recently compatibility wise was it not allowing a pop up i needed.

 

Yep, I would suggest trying it out and giving it a week or so. Opera's quite different from IE, Chrome, and FF, so initially you'll be spending some time getting used to things... although hopefully this thread will brief you on some of the basics

And also, if you encounter any problems, just post back here!

 

Just out of curiosity, is there a speed dial function built into the other browsers? I seem to recall Safari has one, but really not sure about the others. I've been sticking with Opera for so long now that i haven't used other browsers in ages.

 

IE9 and Chrome both have thumbnails on the new tab page, but they're only for the most visited sites. FF does not have a speed dial function, but an extension clone can be installed. Not sure about Safari...

 

Ever since I started using the Opera Mini browser for my iPhone, my interest in the full-fledged Opera browser has grown. The main reason I never tried it before was the potential for website incompatibility. But if the list is indeed growing shorter, it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a try. The Opera Link feature on the iPhone interests me as well. It appears to sync the speed dial, bookmarks, and history to the Mini browser.

I figure I could stop using Firefox for a day or two and see how this works out. As long as I still get my adblock, of course.

 

See the Adblock section above

Personally, I recommend Opera Adblock, which works quite well for me.

 

Ok will do....downloading...

 

I'm currently typing this post from Opera. I feel that the biggest adjustments are what some might consider the littlest details. Things like F6 not highlighting the address bar (F8 instead), not being able to change tabs by pressing CTRL + a number key, not being able to search bookmarks in the address bar like Firefox, and not being able to scroll through address bar results with the TAB key. Every browser has its quirks and tricks and I'm so acquainted with Firefox's quirks that this might take some time to get used to.

So far it does seem to be a little snappier than Firefox (I'm still using 3.6.25), but memory leaking seems to be a problem. Closing tabs doesn't release any memory and I sometimes end up with two tabs open and 350k still in use.

Regarding the Opera Adblock, does it also block those pop-up ads in YouTube videos and the ones that play before videos?

EDIT: I am using this on a ThinkPad and one of the negative "quirks" of Opera that is horizontal scrolling with the TrackPoint (and for all input devices, it appears) does not work. I've searched for a solution but it seems to be a common problem no matter what navigation method is used. I don't usually have my browsers maximized on my screen, so this little detail is bothersome.

 

Yep, F8 is the key to use to move the cursor to the address bar.

Ctrl + a number key is instead mapped to the speed dial, so the best way to switch tabs using the keyboard is just Ctrl + Tab. Note that you can configure it to switch in the order of the tab bar or between most-recently-used tabs, though.

Theoretically, the addressbar does actually search through bookmarks. Unfortunately, I think Opera 11 decided to prioritize history over bookmarks, for whatever reason. I believe a different searching and aggregation function is being implemented in Opera 12, though (see Opera Next section).

No, Opera Adblock does not block those. However, the Youtube Adsfree extension I mentioned above does block both.

Strange. Side-scrolling works for me with both the trackpoint and my Logitech MX mouse. Are you using the "smooth scrolling" mode in the Trackpoint settings?

 

I have the "smooth scrolling" option disabled on both the TrackPoint and Opera browser settings. Horizontal side-scrolling with the TrackPoint still does not work.

I've noticed that bookmarks are shown in the address bar, but as you pointed out, they are low priority and oftentimes don't even show up on the list. Again, the inability to press TAB and scroll through those search results and suggestions is a bit nagging.

If anything, memory usage is going to be the deal-killer in the long run for Opera. Closing tabs will not release memory and it will shoot up to 600k, compared to Firefox 3.6.25 which still manages to keep it to around 350k under the same load. Any suggestions?

EDIT: Found another quirk: On Facebook Timeline profiles, Opera won't let you click on the panel for the "Friends" list. Firefox lets you click on it to see the user's friends list and hovering over it will show mutual friends. In Opera, hovering over it does not display the "gloved hand" indicating a clickable link and there is no link shown in the status bar.

EDIT 2: Silly me, there's a direct link underneath the panel that says "Friends" that you can click on to access the list.

 

Apologies for the double post, but it's been two days since the last one, so...

Is there no option to move a tab from one window to another window? From what I've seen it's only possible if there is more than one tab open in the new window, and it only allows you to stack it on top of another tab and then must be "unstacked." It also seems that dragging a tab to its own separate window only works if you drag it to an open space of the screen. Thus, having a full screened window means not being able to tear away that tab, because dragging it down into the browser space only refreshes the page.

Adding onto that, I'm not so sure about tab stacking. In my brief stint with Firefox 4.0, I found the tab Panorama to be very useful in grouping my tabs. Tab stacking, while simpler, isn't as intuitive to me and isn't as efficient as Panorama was. If there was one feature I missed in switching back from Firefox 4.0 to 3.6, it was Panorama.

I still can't get used to the fact that pressing CTRL + # accesses the speed dial shortcuts and not the tabs.

Memory usage is still a potential issue.

Side-scrolling with the TrackPoint is still not working and it's becoming more bothersome the more I use Opera.

So far there have been very few issues with websites not supporting Opera, mostly javascript and formatting problems. Unfortunately, one of the "very few" of issues I'm having is with one of the main websites my university uses and I access on a regular basis...

Overall I like what I see, but it still seems "unfinished" or "unrefined" compared to Firefox. There are definitely some rough edges but there are some diamonds in there too. I'm going to continue using it for the next few days and see where it goes from there.

 

Don't worry about the double post, it's been more than 24 hours so it's all fine. There is nothing against double posting per say in the forum rules, only a time limit in which not to do it.

I agree with you that opera still has some rough edges, but it's getting better and better with every version. your university's site not working is definitely a big downer.

 

Easiest way to manage tabs across multiple windows is by using the Windows panel (Shift + F12 > Panels > check Windows). With the Panels sidebar, you can view the list of all open tabs and shuffle tabs between windows, etc.

Yeah, Opera does seem to encourage remaining in one window and using tabs instead of using multiple windows; I can't think of a way off the top of my head to drag a tab into a new window if the browser is maximized.

If it continues bothering you, you could always customize the keyboard shortcuts, I suppose. Go to Ctrl + F12 > Advanced > Shortcuts, duplicate the Opera Standard layout, and then edit the copy.

Have you tried changing your TrackPoint to the smooth scroll option?

Try masking as Firefox or IE and see if that fixes your issues with your university website. Masking as FF fixes the problems for me with a few of UCLA's pages.

 

Why would anyone use Opera when there are open source and highly supported browsers out there with vastly more market share (and therefor support/ development)?

 

Because Opera offers many things that aren't matched by Firefox or Chrome. As I've said before, what browser you use doesn't come down to "speed" or "security" anymore, really. All modern browsers are competent. It comes down to "what more do you want?" and Opera answers that better than either FF or Chrome, in my experience.

And that's a pretty faulty argument; after all, Chrome started from zero as well.

 

Yes... it did. And now it isn't lol and many devs have moved to it.

I'm legitimately curious because I can only see Opera has a sort of... Firefox with worse security and more build in features. But I've never used it for more than a few days. Is there anything specific?

And I'd agree that all modern browsers are very similar performance wise purely going by javascript (negating other features entirely) but in terms of security, no, Opera is wayyyyy behind.

I'm not trying to start a riot. I just want to know what people see in a browser that's got almost no 3rd party dev support, is entirely closed source, and does nothing to protect the user.

 

Obviously, you've come in with your mind made up already, so there's only so much I or anyone else can say...

In terms of performance, no, modern browsers are more or less equal in terms of Javascript/DOM/CSS/Java/HTML5/etc. See here, but note that all browsers have received updates since then. Most differences that we perceive are usually statistical variances, which is why anecdotal evidence is so weak.

In terms of security, Opera does benefit from the fact that there are essentially no Opera-targeted exploits out there because the user base is so small. Aside from the lack of tab sandboxing (which is coming in Opera 12), I don't see how you can say Opera is "way behind" and "does nothing to protect the user."

In terms of specific features... well, scroll up, I suppose.

tl;dr: I stand by my original point that there's no better or worse choice you can make with modern browsers. They all have different performance/security/usability merits. Choose a browser for what's important to you.

 

Like I said, I agree that they all are about the same in performance negating things like Opera Turbo etc.

Nice to know that they're working on it. The lack of plugin security is one area that other browsers have worked on but Opera hasn't. There justi isn't anything extraordinary to speak of.

I see a few cool features actually. I can see why someone would want to use those.

 

For example one recently i have found while translating pages with google.
With google frame saving a translated webpage is a failure so i just RMB frame>open in background or open in another tab and it works.

 

Latest Opera Next (12.00) build with 64-bit and out-of-process plugins has been updated, get it here!

 

My overall feeling after a few days of using Opera is that it's a solid experience with some unique and useful features. However there really isn't anything that puts it ahead of Firefox for me.

The reason I switched to Opera Mini on my iPhone was because it offered clear advantages over Safari Mobile and was, without a doubt, the better browser. When it comes to the desktop versions, there's nothing like that to convince me that it's enough of a difference or advantage to use it as my main browser (the same goes for Chrome when I gave it a spin last year). As it was discussed on the last page, all modern browsers are pretty much similar when it comes to performance and feature sets, and it usually comes down to those little things, those quirks, that make one stand out among others.

As it stands now I'm going to stick with Firefox for my workhorse browser. But fear not! I'm still reserving a spot on my taskbar for Opera

 

OPERA is the best browser to the Earth. I use Opera since 1998. Was paypal......now is free.

 

Added a section on maximizing screen real estate in Opera:

Before	After

 

Now I'm seriously interested. That's great they plan on bringing this into Opera. FF must be sweating beads now.

This link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
shows an interesting pic of browser usage by country. Opera is red.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countries_by_most_used_web_browser.png

 

Yeah, for some reason, Opera is actually the most popular browser in several Eastern European countries. It also has a pretty high userbase in Russia and several former-USSR nations (which explains the relative prevalence of Russian-translated Opera extensions and skins).

 

Tried Opera yesterday a bit. Very nice indeed. Was quite impressed with it. But as soon as installed Adblock and added few subscriptions it began to constantly freeze up. Well probably my fault anyway. I kinda get used that when I add ABP in FF I do it and forget about it. Still, gonna maybe gie it for a full spin when I'll have some time.

 

Interesting. Which adblocking extension are you using?

 

Opera Adblock. I think it's kinda same they got for FF.