Hi all, On my system at the moment I have 3 browsers installed, Firefox, opera v8 and Slimbroswer (IE based for the very rare occasion a page doent work in one of the other 2). I am finding it hard to decide on which to keep out of Firefox and Opera, it's not that I'm running out of space, but I find if I'm using one and I save a favourite, I dont put it in the other and therefore when I'm switching between them, I get out of Sync. I like the plugins that the firefox community provide and also it is a LOT faster than IE on my machine, not to mention the security benefits by default. Opera I find to be without a doubt the fastest browser, I personally have used ( I was sad enough to time my favourite pages, aD included),also, even thought its bigger, a lot of the plugins I get for Firefox ie tabbed browsing and smartsearch features are defaults of Opera. Just wondering if any of you guys had reasons for your choice on browser, maybe something I'm missing that will sway me one way or the other. I think both browsers are great and don't want to start an "opera-bashing/firefox-bashing" conversation, also don't want to be converted to IE. Just wondering what the general opinions are for using each browser. Cheers Guys.
When I have a choice I use Opera. I have been using it for years (since version 3). Here are a few features that it has that I actually use nearly everyday: 1) Zoom - Instantly make a web page smaller or larger, selecting 120%, 150%, etc. Great for reading fine print. I find as I get older my eyesight is worse and this instant magnification is my most used feature. IE has text resizing but it is nowhere near as accessible or easy to use as Opera's Zoom 2) Fit to Window Width - With the click of a button you can resize a web page instantly. Very useful for sites where you have to scroll left and right to read text that won't fit into the width of a single window. With Opera you can fit it in a single page 3) Go to URL - if a page has a URL that is not linked, for example www.opera.com vs http://www.opera.com all you have to do in Opera is highlight the URL, right click and select go to URL 4) Sessions - Accidently close a web page? As long as you haven't closed the browser you can type Ctrl+Alt+Z and be right back where you were, basically an undo function 5) Mouse gestures - While you can get plugins to do this with Firefox, it is built into Opera. I am so used to this feature that I find it annoying on other browsers when I can't just make a motion with my mouse to reload a page, go back, or many others 6) Speed - Opera nearly always renders pages faster. There was a topic earlier that was stickied about speeding up Firefox, but Opera has nearly the same function built in and as a default where you have to go to an out of the way about:config page on Firefox to set it up 7) Lean and Mean - For almost the exact same download size and hard drive footprint as Firefox, Opera has a Mail/Usenet Client, IRC Client, and RSS aggregator built in as well as Mouse Gestures and other features that you have to download additional plugins to use in Firefox. 8) Speech - At first I thought this was a gimmick, but found I really liked it. Hightlight a news article, right click, and have it read back to you in a surprisingly decent voice. 9) Author mode - Have you run into a web page where someone used a blue font on a black background and you get eyestrain just trying to read it? Switch to Author mode in Opera and read it in black and white In no way do I want to bash Firefox, I use it at work daily. But when I have a choice of browsers, I will always choose Opera over the others. Opera is the one that comes out with the innovations that the others copy. For instance, I have been using tabbed browsing since the 90's with Opera 5's release, years before Firefox came along and implemented it. The main thing that I think turns people away from Opera is that it is not free. You can get a free version that places an ad in the title bar, about the size to a couple icons, but most people don't like that. I for one didn't mind so much paying for it, I can still remember when Netscape cost $50 in 1993. Not only do you get the ad removed but you are supporting the people that come out with the innovations that benefit us all.
Hey Xian, Thanks for that, that is just what I'm looking for, good objectional points to give me something to think about. Cheers.
Well, I know this topic is out-dated, but I came across while reading user opinions of different browsers. I have been testing/trying out different browsers for the past couple of weeks, and am still sorta torn. I've found that each browser lacks something I need. Just when it seems I've found the right one for me, I find a feature missing that puts me back at square 1 again. Lately I've been trying Maxthon vs Opera vs Firefox. All of which are the most up to date versions. I have been a Maxthon user for over a year now, but lately bugs within the prog are starting to annoy me. Its a very fast browser...just needs a little more work. It has a great Ad Hunter built in also. It has lots of plugins too, but nothing close to the wide range of extensions that Firefox has. Firefox, like I said, has a ton of very useful extensions, which is probably what appeals to me most about this browser. Other than that, it doesnt have much going for it. For the sake of argument, lemme just say that the security it boasts is only for stupids that surf the web. Advertising. A marketing ploy if you ask me. One could browse securely with IE using common sense. The major downside to FF is its slowness at startup, and its constant freezes(even if it is for just a few seconds..its damn annoying). I've tried the about:config tweaks, and they improve it a little, but nothing to brag about. It should really be faster....and if it was, it would probably have me hooked. Opera is probably the most appealing browser to me right now(the registered version w/o ads). It IS the fastest browser I've come across. Its stable. It looks better than the rest. Lots of useful features. The one thing that kills it for me is the lack ad blocking intelligence. I know that there are hosts files that can be added to your system, to take up this slack, but whats so hard about having a reliable ad killer built into the prog?...especially when all of the major competition is doing it? If a new (free)version of Opera was realeased without ads and with an ad hunter similar to Maxthon's, it would blow Firefox away. Even though each browser has its own "kink", it looks to me like Opera 8 is the best right now.
