My OperaBrowser Wars
Saturday, August 20, 2011 6:24:33 PM
No matter how badly I might wish to keep Opera as my default browser, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get anything done with it. That must be why I keep forgetting that I have it installed! Pages won't render correctly, if they display at all! Crucial elements of websites are beyond the reach of Opera. And I depend heavily on web based apps. Nearly all of my websites run a Content Management System of some kind which is the key to the door of managing some of those sites.
It has been suggested that I file bug reports concerning this. But as I investigated the reporting system I noted that this issue has been reported multiple times and for quite a long time! And they are pretty clear about not wanting bugs that have already been reported re-submitted. (I think that fact alone is a major problem with their business model. If there is a problem of any kind it should be reported as often as it is encountered until fixed. But that's just my way of looking at things).
I even tried changing the user agent. That just made things worse!
I don't know what else to do besides leave it alone and hope that someday someone decides that this is very likely what is preventing Opera from being a serious contender in the Browser Wars. If web devs can't get their work done with it, they will do their work with whatever tools are available that will... like me. And if a developer can't use it she is certainly less likely to recommend it to their friends, clients and other users.
At this point it is difficult for me to consider Opera as being anything other than a shiny toy (with lots of imperfections). I can't even get Opera to work right for me on Android or Symbian.
I regretfully say that I must move on to find something that WILL work. Time is money, as they say. And I simply can't expend the time on a product with as many problems as Opera has.
"Move along. Nothing to see here." ~South Park
It has been suggested that I file bug reports concerning this. But as I investigated the reporting system I noted that this issue has been reported multiple times and for quite a long time! And they are pretty clear about not wanting bugs that have already been reported re-submitted. (I think that fact alone is a major problem with their business model. If there is a problem of any kind it should be reported as often as it is encountered until fixed. But that's just my way of looking at things).
I even tried changing the user agent. That just made things worse!
I don't know what else to do besides leave it alone and hope that someday someone decides that this is very likely what is preventing Opera from being a serious contender in the Browser Wars. If web devs can't get their work done with it, they will do their work with whatever tools are available that will... like me. And if a developer can't use it she is certainly less likely to recommend it to their friends, clients and other users.
At this point it is difficult for me to consider Opera as being anything other than a shiny toy (with lots of imperfections). I can't even get Opera to work right for me on Android or Symbian.
I regretfully say that I must move on to find something that WILL work. Time is money, as they say. And I simply can't expend the time on a product with as many problems as Opera has.
"Move along. Nothing to see here." ~South Park
Doc Flay™dr-flay # Saturday, August 20, 2011 10:35:42 PM
Opera take the stance that, as a browser that sticks strictly to W3C web standards, it does not try to fix broken code (unlike Firefox & IE).
If you submit the pages you are having problems with to the W3C validator (in Opera this is a right-click option on any web page), you will usually find there is lots of broken code
Try pasting the problem URLs into the validator.
http://validator.w3.org
Only then will you know who is at fault. (It can even try and correct the broken code)
If as I suspect the page throws up loads of errors, you can do as I do and email the site with a link to the list of errors, and tell them to sort it out. (You'd be surprised at how much shoddy coding is out there)
The idea is, if it's code is correct and doesn't break the web-standard W3C rules, then it will work in any browser under the sun, on any hardware.
Any site that says "best viewed in Firefox/IE" has broken or "trick" code
The more f*ckups and broken code a browser has to fix, the bigger the browser gets.
I still resort to using IE for problem sites as they all recognise it.
Some sites will never work properly with Opera, because they check which browser you are using, and don't have a clue that it can handle activeX plugins for example, so just refuse to run the relevent code. Spoofing as another browser only works with some sites, as they are trying to be too clever :-(
I am a user of Opera Unite, so I have no alternative other than to install a sh*t load of utilities and apps, to cover the same ground. (never gonna happen, I'd rather go without)
Validate some of the sites you're having probs with (using any browser) and post some results. You will be horrified at how poorly a lot of sites are made, and yes they will break Opera.
Until modern web designers go back to writing their own code, instead of pointing & clicking, and copying code. or at least bother to validate the mess they have just cobbled together, this problem of sites working in 1 browser and not another, will never go away.
In Short, if it works in Opera it WILL work on anything. If Opera was the "lowest common denominator" then all sites would work for everyone.
So, we are left with an ironic Catch-22! Unless more people use Opera, web coding will only get worse, as the other browsers do their best to fix lame code.
Other than that... my heart goes out to you. I'm living in a computer hell always, because it's not Amiga, so i'll never be happy
Doc Flay™dr-flay # Saturday, August 20, 2011 10:40:08 PM