{"id":1125,"date":"2009-12-29T21:01:05","date_gmt":"2009-12-30T02:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/ie-firefox-chrome-opera\/1125\/opera-the-forgotten-browser\/"},"modified":"2009-12-29T21:01:05","modified_gmt":"2009-12-30T02:01:05","slug":"opera-the-forgotten-browser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/?p=1125","title":{"rendered":"Opera: The Forgotten Browser"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Opera: The Forgotten Browser <\/strong><\/h1>\n

by: Scott Nesbitt – December 13, 2009<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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In June, 2009 the folks at Google conducted an interesting experiment. They asked a bunch of people in Times Square the question What is a Web browser?<\/a> Only 8% of the people asked knew what a browser was. Luckily, most (if not all) of the people reading the TechTips in this space know what a browser is …<\/p>\n

In fact, I'm willing to bet that you know names like Internet Explorer, Firefox<\/a>, Safari<\/a>, and maybe even Chrome<\/a>. But one browser that's often forgotten or ignored is Opera<\/a>. Which is unfortunate. Why? Opera has lot to offer as a browser. It packs features and functions that can compete with those of the better-known browsers on the Web.<\/p>\n

Let's get acquainted (or, in some cases, reacquainted) with this nifty browser.<\/p>\n

A little history<\/h2>\n

Opera started life in the mid-1990s not as a full-blown product, but as an internal project at Telenor (the largest telecommunications firm in Norway). The main developers tweaked the browser, then got permission from Telenor to release Opera as a commercial product. Which they did with Opera 2.0 in 1996. The browser was shareware, which let you try it before you bought it.<\/p>\n

At that time, the browser was very simple. It lacked the features of the then-dominant Web browser: Netscape and Internet Explorer. But what Opera lacked in features, it more than made up for in speed. The feature gap, too, narrowed with each release of Opera. Even though the number of features it supported grew, the size of the browser didn't grow out of control. In fact, the download for the latest release of Opera (version 10 at the time this TechTip was written) is only about 10 MB.<\/p>\n

As mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago, Opera started life as shareware. Eventually, it became a free ad-supported browser. The ads were finally dropped in 2005; the browser is now supported through revenue earned from Google.<\/p>\n

If you're interested, the folks at Opera Software have put together a time line of the browser's development, which you can view here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What makes Opera special?<\/h2>\n

Opera isn't just another browser. If it was, it would have faded into the annals of abandonware<\/a> a long time ago. A number of factors make the browser special.<\/p>\n

First up, it's fast. Overall, it's always been faster than Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Firefox. As far as speed goes, Opera is only surpassed by Google Chrome. And while Firefox and Safari have caught up to Opera in some aspects of speed, Opera still has a bit of an edge.<\/p>\n

Next, Opera has always been innovative. It's often on the cutting edge, with many features that other browsers later adopted. Opera was one of the first browsers to support Cascading Style Sheets<\/a> (used to add formatting to Web pages). And it helped introduce the tabbed interface<\/a> and popup blocking, which are standard features of most modern Web browsers.<\/p>\n

It also complies with Web standards<\/a> better than most browsers. Overall, it passes the Acid2<\/a> test of compliance with those standards with better marks than its competitors.<\/p>\n

Finally, Opera is one of the few browsers that takes accessibility seriously. You can access just about every function of the browser using the keyboard<\/a> – no mouse <\/a>required.<\/p>\n

Features, features<\/h2>\n

This is what it's all about: the nifty features that Opera packs. And there are more than a couple that are worth a look.<\/p>\n

Let's start off with Opera's built-in email client<\/a>. Instead of having to jump out to another email client or log into a Web-based account, you can set Opera up to access one or more email accounts. The client has good spam filters, searching, and mail management functions. It also lets you read and write emails while you're offline and will automatically synchronize them with your accounts once you're connected to the Internet.<\/p>\n

Firefox is famous for its extensions<\/a>. Opera's no slouch in that area either, with its widgets<\/a>. Widgets are small programs that add features and functions to the browser. There are 16 categories of widgets, and hundreds of individual ones. They range from unit converts to news readers to tools for Web developers and widgets for accessing social media sites. And a whole lot more. I have to admit that I have no use for most Opera widgets, but some are quite useful.<\/p>\n

When you think presentation slides, you think PowerPoint. But who needs PowerPoint when you have a Web browser? Opera has a neat function called Opera Show<\/a> that lets you create slides in HTML<\/a> and use the browser to view them. Depending on your ability to code using HTML and CSS, your slides don't need to be barebones, quick and dirty. They can be quite visually rich. And what if you don't know HTML and CSS? Opera Software has an online slide generator<\/a> that's easy to use.<\/p>\n

Bookmarks are OK, but sometimes you want to get to your favorite Web sites a bit faster. You can do that with Speed Dial<\/a>. Speed Dial allows you to put up to 25 links to Web sites on a new tab. The links appear as thumbnail images. You can add those sites from your bookmarks, your browsing history, or by typing a URL. And Speed Dial is there whenever you open a new tab. If you don't find it useful, the you can choose to
hide the Speed Dial.<\/p>\n

No matter how good your Internet connection is, sometimes things just bog down. Maybe not to dial-up speeds, but slow enough to be annoying. Instead of making a cup of coffee while you wait for a page to load, you can turn on Turbo instead. Turbo detects a slow connection and does a bit of magic that reduces the amount of information that's flowing to the browser – for example, only loading enough of an image to view it. While images may be fuzzy and other multimedia might be slow, the page will load. Turbo is turned on by default. You can change the settings by clicking the Turbo icon in the bottom left of the Opera window.<\/p>\n

Finally, there's Opera Unite<\/a>. This is a new feature that turns Opera into a Web server. You can use Opera Unite to share files and photos, as well as stream music and host Web pages. Opera Unite can do a lot more, too – you can view a list of Opera Unite applications here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> An upcoming TechTip will look at Opera Unite in more detail.<\/p>\n

Going mobile<\/h2>\n

While Opera hasn't made a huge dent in terms of market share on desktop computers<\/a> or laptop computers<\/a>, it's made some great in-roads on smartphones. Opera Mini<\/a> is arguably one of the top two mobile browsers out there. It's definitely one of the most capable.<\/p>\n

Opera Mini 5, which is the latest release, is light and fast. But it's not one of those mobile apps that tries to shoehorn a desktop interface into a small space. The interface is compact, but not cluttered. And it's easy to use.<\/p>\n

Opera Mobile on the other hand, is a more beefed up version of Opera Mini designed for Nokia and Windows Mobile phones. It packs some of the main features of the desktop version of Opera – like generic viagra pills<\/a> multimedia support, a tabbed interface and speed dial. The interface is similar to that of Opera Mini 5. And like Opera Mini 5, Opera Mobile is easy to use.<\/p>\n

Summing up<\/h2>\n

Too often, the Opera Web browser is overlooked. Unfairly, in my opinion. It's a solid browser that can do most of what its competitors can and which comes in a tight package. If you haven't tried Opera out, give it a look. If you've used it in the past and moved on, give it another try. Chances are you'll find more than one thing to like about it.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n

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