Operatic and majestic (Opera Web Browser)

Name: dididave

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Opera Web Browser
Date:	11.09.07 (226 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Speed dials makes navigating oh so easy!

Disadvantages: Initial load up is very slow.

As a family of six there is much logging in, off and out on our computer. Many a day goes by when I find myself on my son's profile on MySpace or in my wife's eBay account without even realising how I got there.

It was therefore, with a heavy heart that I decided to find myself a web browser of my own. My wife and kids are now left to the wondrous firefox as I scour the web for a viable alternative. Naturally, Internet Explorer is straight off the menu as its massive security flaws and general style make it repulsive to me. Safari looked promising on first download only for me to find that it just was not compatible with several of my favourite sites. This left me with but one alternative...Opera.

I have never really fancied the idea of the Opera Web Browser. For some reason it always came across as a very serious product to me. Perhaps, it is the name which does not share the connotations of excitement and wonder of "firefox" and "explorer" but I always classed myself as a bit soft for a serious browser. However, just shows you should never have a pre-conception about something as Opera is very much a user friendly application.

Opera also has the advantage of being a very small, quick download with the English version being only 4.2mb. This makes it far smaller than IE7, Safari and a little bit smaller than firefox. As a result installation is minimalistic and uncomplicated. First loading of the Opera browser is perhaps the only low point of it. It takes an absolute age! Subsequent accesses are quicker but your first page on start up is certainly slower than the other browsers out there. Perhaps, this is because Opera automatically transfers all your bookmarks over from IE and any other browsers but to be honest, it would have been nice to have had the option to say no to this since I was starting from scratch. Instead I had to delete all my wifes and kids favourites.

Fortunately, once you load your homepage it is all about the good stuff from there. The best feature of Opera, and the one that puts it ahead for me in terms of innovation, is its speed dial feature. This is a unique feature to Opera and puts it ahead of even firefox in terms of easy web browsing. As a lover of keyboard shortcuts this really is a godsend. Speed dial allows you to asign your number keys to your favourite websites for easy access by depressing the Control key and the corresponding number. I press control and one, up pops dooyoo; control and two, gmail and so on. Because these pages are stored in Opera for fast viewing they appear pretty much immediately. This allows me to browse between up to nine of my favourite websites with the greatest of ease.

Another useful and unique feature to Opera is the ability to use its "wand". This is the equivalent to other browsers form and password filling abilities but Opera allows you to log in to your favourite sites with a single keypress and without the need for ticking boxes as it does all the hard work for you. I find this particularly useful on sites such as eBay and yahoo were they constantly seem to be asking for username and password verification. Of course, this makes Opera very much a browser for the single user otherwise anyone using the computer can log in to your sites. However, that is what I downloaded it for and for me it is ideal!

As per the norm nowadays Opera also makes use of tabs to display webpages and you can have loads of tabs open at a time. However, on the downside navigating them is not as easy or as clear as firefox and it is one of the few times you will need to use your mouse. This is countered by the speed dial function which I tend to use more than tabs nowadays but those who like to have multiple tabs open may find this a little irritating. Furthermore, no longer do you have to click on each tab to find which page you wanted as each one has a "thumbnail" picture so you do not need to remember which tab represents what.

From a looks and navigation point of view Opera offers nothing new there. It is very much a functional rather than colourful browser and those who like to tinker with their display may be better suited to firefox or IE. This does mean that all pages appear as they should and there are no glitches or bugs to be seen. Opera also has inbuilt widget system that allows you to add intriguing little applications to your browser such as world times, news and weather. Not quite as wide ranging or customisable as firefox's themes but a good addition nonetheless.

Opera navigates quickly and for me has not crashed yet. This is something that neither IE or firefox has been able to demonstrate in my use of them. It is on a par with firefox in terms of speed and is certainly quicker than IE. The use of speed dial may even make Opera the fastest browser available. The pop up and content blocker has been effective in blocking all adds and content I have not wanted and I can block and allow them myself with a right click of the mouse.

As a browser, Opera is very much firefox's distinguished cousin. Whereas Mozilla's browser is brash and exciting, Opera does everything smoothly and efficiently. This means there is little to choose between the two and it may come down to personal preference. At present I come down on the side of Opera due to its instant access of webpages thanks to speed dial. How about you?

Summary: A good alternative to firefox.

Reliability:
Ease of use:
Installation:
Noise:
Speed:
Variety of features: