Opera CEO: Why No Extensions (So Far) in Opera
Saturday, 19. April 2008, 20:44:09
I've noticed some more debate about "why/why not" to have extensions in Opera, on various fora. Many people seem to have not seen Jon von Tetzchner's (Opera's CEO) comments about this topic, so I thought I'd post it and maybe put it to bed, already.
So, there you have it. In my experience, with or without extensions, Opera has been the most productive, most innovative browser out there for years, YEARS; along with the fastest. Yes, there's all kinds of speed tests that everybody shouts about how their browser is faster. Everyone can make their own decision, so just try Opera on your own PC or Mac or phone or set-top device, with your own favorite sites and decide for yourself.
There's a list a mile long about the useful features in Opera that most of Internet Explorer or Safari users have never heard of, like Speed Dial or Fast Forward. (There's even some, that Firefox users haven't seen, like Rewind and Fast Forward or using your desktop bookmarks on your phone with Opera LINK.)
You won't go back after trying it for a few days. (By the way, if you miss how your old browser looks while trying Opera, just go and get a new skin to pretend Opera is IE, or Safari or Firefox. You may even find a cool, new favorite skin that you love, like the Neanderthal skin!)
It's something [extensions] that we have evaluated many times. We'll probably do something in thefuture. Our focus has been more on widgets – making applications that run outside the browser and are able to build on web technology. On the extensions side, traditionally our focus has been 'let's try to build as much into the browser as possible so people have a choice'. So we do it in a way that's tightly integrated and works out of the box. We've done so much – you mention extensions through user JavaScript, we've done it through CSS and we continue to find new ways to do it. It's clear that Firefox has a more extensible way of doing that. It will not be soon but we may provide some easier ways in the future to add more functionality to Opera.
So, there you have it. In my experience, with or without extensions, Opera has been the most productive, most innovative browser out there for years, YEARS; along with the fastest. Yes, there's all kinds of speed tests that everybody shouts about how their browser is faster. Everyone can make their own decision, so just try Opera on your own PC or Mac or phone or set-top device, with your own favorite sites and decide for yourself.
There's a list a mile long about the useful features in Opera that most of Internet Explorer or Safari users have never heard of, like Speed Dial or Fast Forward. (There's even some, that Firefox users haven't seen, like Rewind and Fast Forward or using your desktop bookmarks on your phone with Opera LINK.)
You won't go back after trying it for a few days. (By the way, if you miss how your old browser looks while trying Opera, just go and get a new skin to pretend Opera is IE, or Safari or Firefox. You may even find a cool, new favorite skin that you love, like the Neanderthal skin!)
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FYI I used Fast Forward with Fx, and I must admitt I like the way it treats images better than Opera beacsue it also guesses what the next page is.
- ØØ -
By NoteMe, # 21. April 2008, 09:10:59
Explain for me how it treats images better?
By kamalesh, # 23. April 2008, 07:08:33
Over to the example. If you are looking at this image:
http://www.noteme.com/images/ss/auto-search-1.jpg
You can guess that there is an other image called:
http://www.noteme.com/images/ss/auto-search-2.jpg
aswell. You don't know for sure, but there is a big chance. And if there is, then there probably is an image called
http://www.noteme.com/images/ss/auto-search-3.jpg
and so on. Opera won't try to guess this, but the Fx extension does, until it gets a 404. With opera you first need to go to
http://www.noteme.com/images/ss/
Then it will remember all the links and give you the fast forward possibility.
It's a small feature, maybe not very useful for an average guy, but I miss it from time to time, probably mostly because I have a few friends with image galleries where it works.
- ØØ -
By NoteMe, # 23. April 2008, 07:28:31
Also, no Rewind capability as in Opera, which I use a million times a day to rewind to google results or back a few domains after clicking, going off on a tangent and need to get back in one click or keyboard shortcut (shift+z)...
By kamalesh, # 25. April 2008, 19:42:20