Why Opera?
Tuesday, 18. March 2008, 01:12:04
This page is dedicated to the Opera browser, a faster, safer and fuller-featured alternative to your webbrowser!
Why Opera?
Aside from the emphasis on good security and fast rendering, Opera is packed with great features that make browsing faster, easier and more powerful. I can only highlight a small number of features here and the selection is based on features I enjoy most or features that really set Opera apart from other browsers. You can find a lot of information at Opera's features page.
Internet suite vs. browser
A major selling point of Opera for me is the fact that it is an internet suite and not merely a browser (such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox). I use Opera for browsing, e-mailing, newsfeeds and chatting: for me it is an all-in-one portal to the web! With the advent of Opera's widgets, this role will become even more pronounced, and many utilities that previously required separate programs now run from a webservice, powered by Opera.
World-class rendering engine
Opera's rendering engine (called Presto) sports a high level of support for CSS — this is illustrated by the correct rendering of the Acid 2 test in Opera 9 — and a large range of other standards (e.g. (X)HTML, XSLT, WML and SVG). With Opera 9 this even includes initial support for Webforms 2.
Furthermore, Opera not only runs on desktop computers, but is also available on devices ranging from mobile phones to your refrigerator (well, not yet, anyway): Opera is your one-stop-shop for internet anywhere! What is important is that Opera's core is shared among all products, across all platforms and devices! This is possible due to Opera's ERA, which allows to display webpages on displays of any size, from computer screens to TV's and mobile phones. You can even test how a webpage is going to look on a device, simply with a desktop version of the browser.
Fully configurable UI
With Opera's UI system the interface can be tweaked up to the tiniest detail: skins, toolbar setups, menu setups, keyboard shortcuts, mouse gestures, the works! With Opera 9 it is also possible to change preferences by means of buttons or keyboard shortcuts. You can also download customized configuration files at the customize section at MyOpera. The config files will automatically install when you download them: ultimate configurability within a mouse-click!
Built-in search
One of Opera's best and most copied features is the built-in search. One can search with a number of searchengines by typing in the query in the addressbar or special searchboxes.
In Opera 9 an interface was added for adding and changing search engines. In previous versions the searches can be customized by editing the search.ini in the Opera directory. An excellent guide is Martin Schrode's page. If you don't want to edit the file yourself try this nifty little program written by Andrzej Olaczek. The Opera Search.ini Editor is very easy to use, comes with a very large number of custom searches and is translated into a number of languages, including German, Polish and Dutch.
Mouse gestures
If I were given a penny for every time I tried to perform a mouse gesture in another application, I would be a millionaire... behind that cliché there is a clear truth: Opera's mouse gestures are addictive, once you're used to them you can't live without them. All your most needed commands can be performed with a quick move of the mouse, fast and easy.
Keyboard shortcuts
If you look at the list of Opera's keyboard shortcuts you will notice by the shear length of the page that there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts. This means you can do almost anything in Opera without your hands ever leaving the keyboard. Furthermore, most important commands are even one-key shortcuts so they are quick to perform. Editing the shortcuts is also possible, so you can completely tailor Opera's shortcuts to your needs.
FastForward
This is another one of those Opera features that makes a great difference for me. What it does is smartly look at a page to see if there are any "next" links available. If so, you can automatically jump to the next page by using any of your favourite forward commands (shift-X, alt-arrow, mousegesture).
There is more though. Combine FFwd with Wand, Opera's password manager, and you can automatically login to your webmail and forums by just using a forward gesture: username/password are automatically filled in and form submitted! One-click login! Read more about how to configure FastForward
Spatial Navigation
What? Spatial navigation. What? yes, you read it correctly. Never mind what they decided to call it, it is wonderful! I can now browse the internet without ever touching the mouse (or Wacom tablet in my case). I could already perform virtually all Opera functions with the keyboard, but browsing links on a page always was cumbersome. But now with this feature I can browse links across a page by using shift-cursor I can jump from link to link on a page. Never before was browsing so fast!
Trash Can
Every close a page by accident? Just when you realize you still needed to copy something? You could go back in your history and find the page you are looking for, but it is simpler in Opera. Just go to the Trashcan on the Page Bar, or press ctrl-alt-z and the page reopens!
User styles
In Opera you can easily change between alternative stylsheets, but also add certain user styles to the layout of a page, for instance to help you with debugging a design, or improving readability. This is done via the user styles.
Why Opera?
Aside from the emphasis on good security and fast rendering, Opera is packed with great features that make browsing faster, easier and more powerful. I can only highlight a small number of features here and the selection is based on features I enjoy most or features that really set Opera apart from other browsers. You can find a lot of information at Opera's features page.Internet suite vs. browser
A major selling point of Opera for me is the fact that it is an internet suite and not merely a browser (such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox). I use Opera for browsing, e-mailing, newsfeeds and chatting: for me it is an all-in-one portal to the web! With the advent of Opera's widgets, this role will become even more pronounced, and many utilities that previously required separate programs now run from a webservice, powered by Opera.
World-class rendering engine
Opera's rendering engine (called Presto) sports a high level of support for CSS — this is illustrated by the correct rendering of the Acid 2 test in Opera 9 — and a large range of other standards (e.g. (X)HTML, XSLT, WML and SVG). With Opera 9 this even includes initial support for Webforms 2.
Furthermore, Opera not only runs on desktop computers, but is also available on devices ranging from mobile phones to your refrigerator (well, not yet, anyway): Opera is your one-stop-shop for internet anywhere! What is important is that Opera's core is shared among all products, across all platforms and devices! This is possible due to Opera's ERA, which allows to display webpages on displays of any size, from computer screens to TV's and mobile phones. You can even test how a webpage is going to look on a device, simply with a desktop version of the browser.
Fully configurable UI
With Opera's UI system the interface can be tweaked up to the tiniest detail: skins, toolbar setups, menu setups, keyboard shortcuts, mouse gestures, the works! With Opera 9 it is also possible to change preferences by means of buttons or keyboard shortcuts. You can also download customized configuration files at the customize section at MyOpera. The config files will automatically install when you download them: ultimate configurability within a mouse-click!
Built-in search
One of Opera's best and most copied features is the built-in search. One can search with a number of searchengines by typing in the query in the addressbar or special searchboxes.
In Opera 9 an interface was added for adding and changing search engines. In previous versions the searches can be customized by editing the search.ini in the Opera directory. An excellent guide is Martin Schrode's page. If you don't want to edit the file yourself try this nifty little program written by Andrzej Olaczek. The Opera Search.ini Editor is very easy to use, comes with a very large number of custom searches and is translated into a number of languages, including German, Polish and Dutch.
Mouse gestures
If I were given a penny for every time I tried to perform a mouse gesture in another application, I would be a millionaire... behind that cliché there is a clear truth: Opera's mouse gestures are addictive, once you're used to them you can't live without them. All your most needed commands can be performed with a quick move of the mouse, fast and easy.
Keyboard shortcuts
If you look at the list of Opera's keyboard shortcuts you will notice by the shear length of the page that there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts. This means you can do almost anything in Opera without your hands ever leaving the keyboard. Furthermore, most important commands are even one-key shortcuts so they are quick to perform. Editing the shortcuts is also possible, so you can completely tailor Opera's shortcuts to your needs.
FastForward
This is another one of those Opera features that makes a great difference for me. What it does is smartly look at a page to see if there are any "next" links available. If so, you can automatically jump to the next page by using any of your favourite forward commands (shift-X, alt-arrow, mousegesture).
There is more though. Combine FFwd with Wand, Opera's password manager, and you can automatically login to your webmail and forums by just using a forward gesture: username/password are automatically filled in and form submitted! One-click login! Read more about how to configure FastForward
Spatial Navigation
What? Spatial navigation. What? yes, you read it correctly. Never mind what they decided to call it, it is wonderful! I can now browse the internet without ever touching the mouse (or Wacom tablet in my case). I could already perform virtually all Opera functions with the keyboard, but browsing links on a page always was cumbersome. But now with this feature I can browse links across a page by using shift-cursor I can jump from link to link on a page. Never before was browsing so fast!
Trash Can
Every close a page by accident? Just when you realize you still needed to copy something? You could go back in your history and find the page you are looking for, but it is simpler in Opera. Just go to the Trashcan on the Page Bar, or press ctrl-alt-z and the page reopens!
User styles
In Opera you can easily change between alternative stylsheets, but also add certain user styles to the layout of a page, for instance to help you with debugging a design, or improving readability. This is done via the user styles.
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