Google Compatibility (Why do I have to leave Opera for Firefox?)

Google Compatibility (Why do I have to leave Opera for Firefox?)

if you're reading this, it probabely means you already know opera is the best browser available.

but there is a big problem; opera isn't the most google-compatible browser on earth & i'm afraid it that doesn't change, many current users of opera will have to leave it for firefox.

for instance, i've started using google notebook. it's a really useful tool if you are doing an intensive research online & I've become addicted to it. now, the thing is that Google has released a browser extension for IE & Firefox that lets you clip & collect text & pics of any webpage you're visiting & then it automatically saves it to your notebook....opera does'nt have one!

or google sync, another great & Must-Have service of google, is currently available only in firefox.

I know that google & firefox have mutual cooperations & these problems are partially google's fault. but opera is the one who's taking the beats.

I'm not a technical kind of guy, but i guess there should be a way to solve this. whether it's negotiating with google guys or even doing a software trick so that opera can use firefox extensions

I really don't wanna leave this little lovely browser; will i have to?


____________________________________________________

Moderator note: Please try a forum search for existing discussions on Google services, and remember that site compatibility issues do not belong in the wishlist forum. (more information)
____________________________________________________

If you made some research on that topic you would found that it's the google's problem and not opera's. Opera users made numerous times scripts that repaired poor google's code, not all could be done though. What you can do is ask google to make it's applications compatible with all browsers - not only opera suffers (there are problems with safari, konqueror, dillo etc.). Some services couldn't be done without opera allowing extensions or api - you can pray for it too

Here's some information on how to get some of Google's services to work in Opera. Hope it helps.

http://operawatch.com/news/2007/01/how-to-make-google-services-opera-friendly.html

I have been using Opera since version 3 or so. I loved the way the browser grew more improved and more developed with each release. BUT for the last six months or so I have stopped using it for almost all my surfing.

Why? Same reason as lots of others. I use gmail and Opera's support just doesn't cut it. I don't think it is fair to blame Google for making it difficult, afterall, Firefox gets it right everytime. But poor old Opera crashes, renders the display incorrectly, or fails to load certain features.

Even though Firefox seems to always leak memory, it is the only option if you can't live without gmail. I have to admit that with its superior extensions system, almost every feature I love in Opera is available even if it is not as streamlined.

Of course, I would not hesitate to come back to Opera - just I won't do it until they sort the compatibility issues out. It has taken so long it is ridiculous. There is a point where only supporting webstandards falls apart. Yes, it is great Opera supports the W3C specs so closely. But once that has been achieved you should add in non-W3C support for popular services that the real world uses.

Please sort it out or I fear Opera will become another Netscape. History.

The reason some Google services don't work right in Opera is due more to Google's lack of concern for Opera users than anything else.

Now the issue with Google Notepad is a little more than that. Opera has no extension system that allows the kind of integration that the ones in Firefox and IE have. This is because it's considered a security risk. What Opera does have is User JavaScript, which is a very powerful way of modifying website contents, and tweaking the way a certain site interacts with Opera. As far as saving data to your computer, I don't know if that can be done in User JavaScript, and my guess would be that it can't. Any system that allows information from a website to be automatically saved on your computer is a security risk, and ways could be found to exploit it to install malicious software. These are conditions that Opera Software works very hard to avoid...

Doesn't Google Sync synchronize your Firefox bookmarks/settings/whatever amoung multiple computers by storing them online? This kind of thing has been requested for Opera on several occasions. Currently all of Opera's stuff is saved in text files that cannot be modified while Opera is running. If someone was to devise a method of online syncing between several installs of Opera, it would either have to sync everything just before launching the browser, or it would have to close the browser to perform the sync.

Originally posted by slumbergod:

There is a point where only supporting webstandards falls apart. Yes, it is great Opera supports the W3C specs so closely. But once that has been achieved you should add in non-W3C support for popular services that the real world uses.

Opera isn't perfect, no browser is, but the following needs to be made very clear:

Imagine if Opera did support every single specification W3C or otherwise 100%, and have 100% perfect emulation (including exactly when to apply the quirk and when not to) of bugs in other browsers. Even after reaching this totally impossible goal there would still be sites that didn't work in Opera due to server or client side user-agent sniffing when things like object detection and proper reading of HTTP headers would have sufficed.

In this thread's case, the severe shortness of a script that fixes all functionality issues with Google docs, Google spreadsheets, Picasa, and Google calendar should be telling. That Google, one of the biggest companies around can't find the time to test in Opera is shocking; that one man working alone can write an 140 line (including comments) script consisting of a handful of simple fixes should reflect far, far worse on Google than it does on Opera. Especially when you consider that they somehow find the time to work past IE innumerable flaws.

Originally posted by BtEO:

In this thread's case, the severe shortness of a script that fixes all functionality issues with Google docs, Google spreadsheets, Picasa, and Google calendar should be telling. That Google, one of the biggest companies around can't find the time to test in Opera is shocking; that one man working alone can write an 140 line (including comments) script consisting of a handful of simple fixes should reflect far, far worse on Google than it does on Opera. Especially when you consider that they somehow find the time to work past IE innumerable flaws.

That may one of the most awesome sentences I've ever read.

+1

I hope opera will have a full support as Firefox to be finally perfect! (thats for me).
Give us this gift!

Why? Same reason as lots of others. I use gmail and Opera's support just doesn't cut it. I don't think it is fair to blame Google for making it difficult, afterall, Firefox gets it right everytime. But poor old Opera crashes, renders the display incorrectly, or fails to load certain features.

Extremely ignorant post.
First, Gmail works perfectly now. It always worked well in v9, as long as you masked as Mozilla.
Seconly, Google is actively supporting firefox. So, they are making sure their website works on Firefox.
Thirdly, Google is actively blocking Opera in many places.

I would like to point out that Gmail has never caused Opera to crash on my computer, and I do not mask or identify as anything other than Opera.

As far as the other Google services, Indyan is right - Google is the one not supporting Opera, not the other way around. Take it up with them.

If it comes to a choice of using Opera or using Gmail plus some crummy browser, the answer is obvious! There are plenty of free email services around.

Originally posted by kingsarms:

If it comes to a choice of using Opera or using Gmail plus some crummy browser, the answer is obvious! There are plenty of free email services around.

Yea. I'll second that.

I remember at one time I had at least 10 e-mail accounts, and even my own free e-mail service. E-mail providers grow on trees these days. And if you want real control over your e-mail, find a provider that allows POP3 or IMAP access, and set up a mail client (such as Opera's integrated M2) to download your e-mail. That's what I do on my website, and then I have a private web login set up as a backup, or for when I'm on the road.

Originally posted by GT500:

for the last six months or so I have stopped using it for almost all my surfing.

add your UOi in your signaure, like me.

newscpq