A gadgeteer, a nerd, a gamer.

After conducting a personal test of all of the major web browsers I’ve come to some surprising conclusions as far as user interface is concerned. Chrome is the cleanest and most simplistic web browser I’ve seen, not to mention it is blazing fast. Safari is a weird looking contraption but strangely I instantly knew how to make it work. Internet Explorer is...not the higher quality Firefox. Opera however is intimidating. With its black user interface bar, and nondescript function buttons, Opera is about as intuitive as a DVD player in 1999. Opera stands opposite of Chrome and Safari which are intuitive but limited in personalization. What Opera does do is reward the user for digging deeper into the browser.

In the options you’ll find a deep set of options that can transform Opera into exactly what you need, or more importantly want from a browser. Speed Dial is a useful feature that works more efficiently because of its faith in Opera’s userbase. Speed Dial allows customization of a readily available list of links. The big deal here is that Chrome only lets you link to your most viewed pages. I’m sure you visit more than nine websites regularly. As it stands Chrome does not let you customize these tabs. Safari does, but I can’t figure out how to do it. Sometimes Apple makes things counterintuitive in its quest for ease of use.

Widgets are readily available and they help to demonstrate Opera's expertise in the mobile space. The facebook widget is an absolutely integral part of any browser experience if you are planning to efficiently waste time. Effective procrastination is one of the best parts about the internet and its great to see Opera supporting it in such a big way.

No matter how you spin it though Opera is the most difficult to learn browser. The learning curve is steep compared to the familiarity of Internet Explorer and Firefox, let alone the beautiful user interface of Chrome. Opera does have the most to offer for browser enthusiasts and that counts for a lot in my book. However it is obvious that Opera isn’t vying for the first time internet user and so these concerns aren’t as important as they would be for pre-installed browsers like Internet Explorer and Safari. Amid its competitors Opera does enough to make sure that it is the web browser of choice among internet enthusiasts.