Entered CNET Catalog: 04/13/2005
SKU: CNETOPERA8.0
Manufacturer: Opera Software
Product summary
The good: Customizable interface; built-in RSS reader and mail client; pop-up stopper.
The bad: Limited technical support options.
The bottom line: There's a ton of great technology in Opera, and it's free to compete with Mozilla Firefox.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 04/19/2005
The Opera 8 Web browser has a lot going for it: a tabbed interface, tons of customizable skins, and some innovative navigation tools. Opera has always been on the cutting edge of browser innovation and was once considered the best alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6) until Mozilla Firefox came along. Now, as of September 20, 2005, the Opera browser is free, but its reputation in the public's mind as a "paid browser" may take a while to subside. Opera 8 offers a few features found in neither IE nor Firefox. If you're an early adopter or if you're dissatisfied with IE, Netscape, and Firefox, then Opera's definitely with a look. We downloaded and installed Opera in less than three minutes. Although $39 is a reasonable price for software that is as sophisticated and reliable as Opera, we doubt many users will pay to browse the Web. A free version of Opera also exists, but it includes a small advertising banner across the top of the browser window. As adware goes, the Opera banners are innocuous. Still, with screen real estate at a premium, we didn't like the added distraction at the top the page.
Although the software doesn't automatically import your bookmarks from Internet Explorer, it will walk you through the steps to do it manually. At first launch, Opera offers users a hypertext tutorial. This is a great feature, although the Opera interface is intuitive and Explorer-like enough for consumers to use without any training.
Opera offers a few improvements on conventional browser design. Like Firefox, Opera offers tabbed browser windows and a built-in Google Search bar in the upper-right corner. The search bar comes with a drop-down menu that connects you to other engines, including Amazon, eBay, and CNET Networks Download.com. On the left-hand side, Opera's collapsible panel displays your favorite sites, History, Transfers, and Notes. Notes is an applet that not only allows you to type in messages but also copy and save text from Web pages with a single right-click.
Another interface tool is the Zoom option. Click the Eye icon on the toolbar, and enlarge any Web page by as much as 1,000 percent. This is a boon for users who are visually impaired and those of us who spend lots of time reading Web pages. Also, any Web page can be stretched or shrunk within Opera without losing any content on the page. This feature is one reason why Opera is rapidly gaining popularity with handheld and cell phone users, and you won't find it in any other browser.
Many little things within Opera are easier than with IE. Hit F12 to see a list of your current browser preferences. This is handy when configuring Opera's built-in pop-up blocker on the fly. Other browsers require you to dig through various toolbar options instead. When it comes to features, Opera offers pretty much everything found in IE 6, plus tabbed Web pages, an RSS reader, and more built-in security. Like Firefox, Opera's main appeal is that it is inherently more secure than Internet Explorer. As the dominant browser, IE 6 is the main target of criminal hackers. Opera uses no code from either Internet Explorer or Netscape Gekko (the two dominant Web browser engines); it is homegrown by Opera Software. The browser supports SSL v2 and SSL v3, as well as the successor to SSL v3, TLS 1, encryption standards that help you securely transmit data over the Internet. Opera includes built-in support for 128-bit encryption, which is essential for secure online transactions. A built-in password manager, dubbed the Wand, keeps track of your passwords. So far, only a few minor security flaws have been reported in previous versions of Opera.
Opera 8 comes with a built-in RSS reader that makes it easy to sign up for and manage feeds; it's one of the better RSS readers we've seen, with the ability to sort entries by date and mark them for later reference. With Opera, every word displayed onscreen becomes a link to more information. With the HotClick option turned on, you can double-click any word on any page to see options related to the text, such as links on the Web, a dictionary definition of the word, or encyclopedic listing from the Web for that word. This feature takes time to get used to, but it can be very addictive.
For e-mail, the Opera browser includes its own e-mail client, which supports POP3, IMAP, SMTP, and NNTP. The client also supports full text-indexing of messages and built-in antispam filters. You can also block mail from specific addresses and domains.
We were able to browse the Web using Opera 8 with few compatibility problems. Sites using JavaScript caused some problems, but even then, the pages lost only some functionality. At MSNBC.com and Slate.com, for example, the preview menus would not work, but we could still click them to get to subsections. Opera says it adheres to W3C standards, but evidently some Web site operators optimize for IE 6 compatibility and not international Web standards. Opera's technical support comes mostly from its active forum community. In addition to many tutorials available on the Opera Software Web site, technical support is limited to an online knowledge base. We found the entries informative and helpful. There is e-mail technical support from the company but no phone technical support. If you try calling the company directly, it can be expensive since Opera is based in Oslo, Norway.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79out of 79 user reviews
student of dentist
Pros: funy mens in my home
Cons: play with my hand
out of 79 user reviews
Very good browser!
Pros: It has better security,pop up blocking,pages loads faster
Cons: I havin't found nothing wrong with opera yet,
out of 79 user reviews
A true 10, read on.
Pros: Fully functional tabbed broswing, small, great skins, free, no ads, pop-up blocker, note taker, amazing history, bookmarks, links (see below), and much much more!
Cons: Low support, not a lot of expandibitly.
Opera was the first broswer to use tabs, and it still does them best. It allows you to move tabs without any addition code (firefox can now do this, IE7 will be able to aswell). However it also has anther nice little toys, such as when you close a tab you can reopen it by click a trash can icon and clikcing the tab. No more tryign to get back to a page you wanted to keep! Also when the broswer closes it will reopen with the tabs you quit with, no longer will you have to start broswing from nothing! (Can be turned off with 1 click when broswer first offers).
Opera was also the first to have the google search bar built in. Also included is ebay and amazon.
Amazing instant zoom, something firefox still only offers on extentions. Opera offers 20%-1000% of a web page, and still keeps quality better then you would expect.
Using hte history it also offers you the top 10 web sites visited. This is great to have around and can let you instantly get to your favorite sites, and since it is based off your history, it is real time broswing.
The most amazing part of opera however is the skin system. You simply go into you tools> appearance Now you can download and preview skins, and if you don't like them it will delete them. Skins are small, fast, and desirable. Also they have several sorting methods, there are at least 150 good skins that I have seen, and I have only looked at 200 skins or so. You can make your broswer look like safarie, firefox, ie, or many other cool/new looks.
Once again, competly recommened. The ONLY complaint I have is that opera is relativly unsupported, even so the only issues I have are that some forums with GUI editiors don't work so I have to use a more text based one. But its worth it.
out of 79 user reviews
Best Browsing Experience, Ever!
Pros: Not Available
Cons: Not Available
So, in desperation, I tried Opera (which I'd seen reviewed on CNET three years ago). I have not been disappointed. In fact, I've installed Opera on all of my machines. It's the front end of choice. The browser seems to be faily quick, even with four or more tabs open. The thing is cool. I recommend it. I'm looking forward to the next version.
out of 79 user reviews
Opera 8 is better than firefox
Pros: Now ad free, the best tab browsing experience.
Cons: some plugins needs manual configuration, yahoo issues
I've used firefox for a long time now and i love how you can customize it, opera was only my second browser, however, I have enjoyed using it more and more, and i switched, and the themes (currently using shadowguard)are better than those made for firefox, in fact most themes are created for opera before they get ported to firefox. Firefox is not as simple anymore, and it is starting to feel slow, loading up takes a lot of time, and you get this feeling that it is wanting you to download more and more extension to keep you happy (including the very familiar IE view), when at the end of the day, you only want a basic browser. Now I am wondering why tabbed browsing has been firefox slogan, after much tinkering, i still get the odd untabbed window, and some websites can still resize the window. Saying this, opera needs some more work, the toolbars needs to be reduced and simplified, firefox's toolbar is very simple (to start with). If its tab browsing experience you are up for, plus a built in email client that is a joy to use, please give opera a try. If it's cutomizability and expansion is what you're after, use firefox. If you're happy with IE, then stick with it, it's all about informed choice.
out of 79 user reviews
All that you could want, The Best
Pros: Why do you need a pop up blocker, you cant get pop ups
Cons: there is nothing wrong with it at all its just the best
out of 79 user reviews
Great product
Pros: great mouse gestures, tabs, free, built in rss, built in email, built in searches
Cons: some emails dont show correctly
I would have given it a ten, but when i tried to, cnet gave me a message, and when i did what they said and clicke submit again, it gave me a page not found error
out of 79 user reviews
Opera is the best!
Pros: opera >FF>IE
Cons: IE cheapest
it is much better
out of 79 user reviews
One major flaw
Pros: Nice features. Fast rendering. Sleek graphics.
Cons: Too many pages don't render well.
Take Yahoo! Mail for instance. It's all messed up in Opera, but fine in IE and Firefox.
Aside from the rendering issues, pages appear quickly, and Opera offers a lot of nice features other browsers don't have built-in. It's a worthy install for webmasters who want to test interoperability, but otherwise I'd stay away from this browser and continue using Firefox and IE for mainstream surfing.
out of 79 user reviews
Opera from the conductor
Pros: Better than IE in everyway shape or form, Its free now, the whole thing where I close the broswer and when I open it again im in the saved spot
Cons: Cant Custimize the pipeline settings (That I found), Doesnt render some sites and wont work on some sites (A flaw that Opera is working on constantly)
out of 79 user reviews
Great, but a memory hog
Pros: Fast, flexible
Cons: RAM use is usually 70MB to 90MB
My big complaint is that the Opera 8 takes so much memory. 93MB as I write this; typically from 70MB to 100MB. That's simply ridiculous. Opera support has no explanation why, and makes no apologies for it. The Opera user forums are full of long-time users discussing the memory problem. I’ll continue to use Opera but I’m going back to an earlier version.
I’d rate the previous version a 9+ but the new version can’t do better than a 6.
out of 79 user reviews
Best Browser Ever
Pros: Fast. Great Email Support. "Fit to window width" + zoom = GREAT FEATURE. Mouse gestures out of the box.
Cons: IMAP support lacking. Missing LDAP integration for contacts. Much slower and generally poor performace on Mac
Mouse gestures has been around in opera for a while, and while you can get this kind of functionaly from a Firefox extension, I like that it works with Opera straight away.
The "Fit to window width" + Zoom combination is just the killer feature for me, especially when showing documents to my vision-impared friends and coworkers, or just anyone who hates small page type.
For those of us who develop web pages or applications, Opera ability to quickly toggle from "Author mode" to "User Mode" is a great feature which is sadly lacking from Dreamweaver.
Opera's email capabilities are wonderful with POP accounts. Granted that having emails and browsing in the same window with different tabs is an adjustment, it proves to be a great asset. IMAP support could be better. Filters work great, and you won't believe how quickly Opera can search through thousands of emails. Plus, Opera's mailbox file does not become bloated like it would in Thunderbird or Outlook. Great stuff.
Unfortunately, Opera's performance on the Mac is severely lacking. On my Powerbook, the Opera icon "bounces" over a dozen times before opening, while Safari and Firefox take 1 and 2 bounces respectively. Page rendering in Opera on Mac also remains a bit buggy, especially on sites that rely on DHTML.
So to sum up this long review: Opera on PC is a complete no brainer, and after a 2 week adjustment, you will never want to go back
out of 79 user reviews
OUTSTANDING
Pros: Fast, FREE and anything is better then IE
Cons: A different "feel" then IE (only bad because I have used IE for so long)
out of 79 user reviews
Fast, simple and now free
Pros: Fast (again), mouse guestures, great email program
Cons: Not all plugins work, some websites are broken
out of 79 user reviews
Awesome browser
Pros: Overall, better than IE and very slightly better than FF.
Cons: Some small quirks to work out (stability, speed, and rendering problems- all pretty small though)
out of 79 user reviews
Maybe the OS X version is just buggy
Pros: Clean minimalist interface
Cons: slower than any other browser for OS X on my system, wonky page display
Could not access my homepage on SBC.yahoo, even spoofing IE and mozilla.
Pages with a lot of graphics displayed slowly, when they did display-showed on far left of screen then jumped to the middle.
No noticeable speed difference over Safari/firefox/camino. Firefox/camino/safari have easier to use preference setting.
out of 79 user reviews
Best Web Browser in History
Pros: Features, Features . . . etc
Cons: Not so popular
out of 79 user reviews
Best browser on the market
Pros: Speed, Security, Customization, Features
Cons: Certain plug-ins don't work
out of 79 user reviews
best browser out there
Pros: security, speed, customization, integration
Cons: a few sites that are hopelessly IE-oriented
There is an active user community at:
http://my.opera.com/community/forums/
I've used Safari on my parent's Mac. I keep a current version of FireFox on my machines and occasionally try it, but quickly retreat in frustration at how klunky and irritating it feels. Opera is smoothly integrated and you don't have to download a bunch of extensions to get it into a usable state. This is not to say that extensions don't exist -- see:
http://userjs.org/
http://my.opera.com/community/customize/
http://nontroppo.org/wiki/Opera/
Enjoy!
out of 79 user reviews
Fast, stable, secure, feature rich
Pros: Fast, stable, secure, feature rich, free
Cons: Nothing now that its free!
Get it. Love it. Join the growing community of Opera fanatics.
We became fanatics with very good reason
out of 79 user reviews
Opera 8.5 is now 100% free, no ads
Pros: The best browser
Cons: Activex Support, but then again, we don't need troyans
out of 79 user reviews
terrific browser
Pros: fast, secure, intuitive, robust
Cons: costs $30, but well worth it
opera has to charge $30 because they're not funded by a large organization such as firefox is (by mozilla).
if you spend as much time as I do browsing the web and emailing, getting to know opera will be WELL WORTH your time. it's email client is also great.
out of 79 user reviews
Hands down, the best I've used!
Pros: Fast, clean, and *light* footprint.
Cons: Too many IE-centric sites still exist.
out of 79 user reviews
The fastest browser available, and you can get it for free!
Pros: it's the fastest, very configurable and full of features
Cons: W3C compliance issues, does not support socks proxies
out of 79 user reviews
Simply Amazing Browser
Pros: Fast, configuable, easy to import favorites from other browsers, Easy to use RSS reader, Download Manager, and more
Cons: Ads cannot be removed unless you register it
It also contains a email client and irc client in one package so you don't have to run a extra application unless you use something else.
out of 79 user reviews
Better than IE, worse than Firefox.
Pros: Nothing wrong except paying and ads
Cons: You get stuck with ads or you pay
1. Pay money to get rid of ads
2. Get stuck with ads
I decided on #3, get firefox. It has the same features, but no ads and it is a little better.
out of 79 user reviews
The best web browser hands down.
Pros: A lot of innovative and exclusive features like the real time zooming ability.
Cons: Requires more memory & CPU usage than most browsers but then again it also provides many more features.
out of 79 user reviews
Almost perfect
Pros: fast, looks good, many options, mouse gestures
Cons: no drag-and-drop, which makes it impossible to use it with Netsnippets
All this resulted in me registering the product, I don't think it is bad to pay for good software, also it is not an overpriced product IMHO!
out of 79 user reviews
dont let the price tag turn u away!!!
Pros: everying!!! better than mozilla
Cons: a few pages dont load right, no plugins
out of 79 user reviews
Opera simply beats the rest, no fan-talk, just facts.
Pros: 1. mouse gestures (no crappy extension gestures) 2. REAL back button with use of history 3. simply the best tabbed browser 4. all in one interface which is highly customizable 5. memory usage! 6.
Cons: a small price for the full version
2- the forward button. It’s called the Fast Forward button. It is used in thumbnail gallery. Instead of clicking on an image, pressing back, and clicking on the next, you press the F. Forward button (or space bar) and it goes on like a slide. I know there’s extension for firefox, but you should try the Opera version and the extension, you’ll see the big difference.
3- Mouse gesture. Some of my friends are so used to Mouse gesture that they use it in windows explorer and other programs. For more info: http://www.opera.com/features/mouse/
I know there’s extension for it, but, I tried it, and once again, it doesn’t work as nice as Opera.
4- Interface ! The interface is extremely customizable. The skins are really cool and the buttons you just drag to the place where you want. In firefox it's also possible to customize the interface but you will see Opera just makes it a lot easier and nicer, I tried to customize the interface of Firefox many times before but never got a result as Opera gave me...
5- Keyboard shortcut. As far as I know, I don’t know of a way to change firefox’s keyboards shortcuts without extension. I use 1 to go to the tabs on the left, and 2 to go on the right tab. The fact that you can use your keyboard ONLY to browse is crazy. Time-saver.
6- Speed. Yes, I am aware of firefox’s tweak in the about:config thing.. but it’s not just as fast as Opera. You really should try on a 600mhz computer (If we go by logic, something that runs fast on an old computer, run faster on a fast computer, than a program that run slow on a slow computer). Opera is also less memory-hungry. (FF shows 36mb in memory, Opera shows 19mb). Try googling. Now, press the back button 10 times, and see the speed difference. It’s REALLY noticeable.
7- Undo button. Let’s say you misclicked and closed 6 tabs in one click (never happened but it’s a scenario). You go to Edit / Undo, and pop, you’re tabs are there again. Let’s say your computer crash because of a power failure and you were on the 6xxth page of a google research, and you completetl y forgot what you typed and which page you were at, and you also had 15 tabs open. No problemo, fire up Opera and it’ll go to the latest saved session, that is, before the ocmp crashed. Ain’t that a life saver? If there’s a firefox extension that do this, please tell me, I’ll test it out and will post back to tell if it does as good as opera.
8- Real Tabbing experience. Firefox default tabbing is, please admit it, not nice. You really need an extension for it - still has not figured out which one - for it to work properly. My request is simple: One window and ONE only. Every popup, every keyboard shortcut, every click, everything, in one window only. I still can’t manage to do this, (I gotta admit the layziness to try each of the tabbing extension). In Opera, you can be assured that it always has 1, but, 1 window.
Also, try opening 35 tabs in operav(with content in it), and 35 tabs in firefox (with the same content in it). Try going back and forth, and continue to surf on another tab. I dunno about you, but I feel the slugginess..
9- IRC and email. Both work pretty well, the email client is very nice !
10- Opera shows webpages almost as good as IE does, with the last versions you rare will have problems with pages!
11- For webdevelopers there are some real cool features in Opera, try them , you like them!
out of 79 user reviews
Simply the best
Pros: Rich in features; great in performance
Cons: Absolutely None
Fastest, excellent caching mechanism
out of 79 user reviews
Excellent Browser....but...ads may be a turn off.
Pros: mouse gestures..tabs..fast..low resources..security
Cons: ads..needs to work on all pages you visit
out of 79 user reviews
Fast, excellent browser
Pros: Snappy fast and feature rich
Cons: M2 email client could use some work
Notice all my complaints are about the email. As a browser, it far surpasses the competition.
out of 79 user reviews
Blazingly Fast
Pros: fast and feature-rich
Cons: Not enough minimalistic skins
I can't recommend any other browser to anyone, since I simply can't find any better ones out there.
out of 79 user reviews
better than ie but not better than firefox
Pros: go to firefox and get that and dont go for even the free opera
Cons: either have to pay or have ads
out of 79 user reviews
Needs more work
Pros: renders quickly, nice look and feel, useful features
Cons: javascript incompatible in some sites, e-mail cliet needs more work
out of 79 user reviews
Top Dog for browsing the web
Pros: Loads of innovative features, speed, size, secure, simple to use (even my mum can use it!), highly customizable & it works.
Cons: Still need IE for some pages, not really Opera's fault though.
It has really innovative features, such as the trash can, voice control, mouse jestures & 'fit to window' that allows pages to be viewed using all the available screen space & can eliminate horizontal scrolling. There are loads more, much more than in IE or firefox & the latter tends to copy loads of Opera's features.
It also does RSS & has a really cool email client. Though this is somewhat hidden as you have to create an email account in opera to get it to desplay the mail option.
out of 79 user reviews
Excellent!
Pros: Speed, Security, Simplicity!
Cons: A little Java...
The mouse gestures make power browser a completely novel experience. Unlike firefox, which is prone to copy the features introduced in Opera, these folks are purely innovative in their design.
out of 79 user reviews
average browser
Pros: customisable, safe
Cons: the ad in the free version
out of 79 user reviews
Worst Adv rotator
Pros: I think you must remove this from your PC
Cons: I hate adv rotators and spyware
I've used opera since it was version 4. I've got to say, I love version 8. They took all the good stuff from 7, cleaned it up, and added a few new things. At first glance Opera is striped of clutter, and shows only what is needed. If you poke around, you'll find out that you can customize everything about the browser, and that it has plenty of features just begging for you to use. From tabbed browsing, to mouse gestures, to the select any text anywhere and search/translate. Opera is just plain fast, both in rendering the web, and letting you get what you are looking for.
out of 79 user reviews
best browser, believe Butch!
Pros: totally personal settings, clean, fast, all-in-one - web-software
Cons: minor very small cons: not perfect for DualHead (but good working, though)
out of 79 user reviews
This makes IE look like a child's toy.
Pros: extremely fast, highly customizable, rss & mail
Cons: none, realistically
It's blindingly fast, even for slow web connections.
out of 79 user reviews
Best of the Lot
Pros: mouse gestures, page cacheing/speed, magic wand, text reader, pop-up blocker, session save, closed window re-opener, panels, rss reader, tabbed browsing, etc, etc, etc
Cons: Price (but not really)
out of 79 user reviews
simply the best
Pros: better cache system than the second best, firefox, all those features it has
Cons: only that u have to pay to romove that banner
why not the best?
because Opera HAS a better cache system.
thats it
i mean, firefox has plug-ins to do almost everthin tht is cool in Opera (almost, i can´t find already one to make "gestual surf" avaliable. I love gestual surf, i can use it to avoid use my keyboard), and search for it should not be so dificult for a user clever enuf to avoid use IE, but ¿what heppens if you whant to save a .swf file from internet?
well if u use opera, u go to cache folder copy and paste, if u use firefox...
the file in your pc is encripted. sam thing if u left click and save somethin like an image... it seems that firefox download it again!!!???
also, if you don´t have broad band, you may notice that opera loads pages/images much faster than firefox or any other winbrowser in the market.
But maybe i talking so good about opera cause i did´n have to pay, i made my formmer boss paid for it. And i´d advice you to do the same.
out of 79 user reviews
Lots of useful features, smaller and faster than Firefox
Pros: Integrated mail client, smooth scrolling, fast, tabs.
Cons: Ads are not really annoying
One feature I cant find in another browser is the smooth scrolling you get when you press the middle mouse button: you can just pull your mouse up or down to scroll up or down (or even sideways). I use that feature often when I read a long text. In Firefox, the scrolling is not as smooth, and I cant read comfortably.
The integrated mail client is useful and performs flawlessly in my hands.
In summary, it is a good, small, fast program that had a few years ago the same features that Firefox claims as new. I compared the two carefully, and i will stick with Opera because I think is is better than Firefox.
out of 79 user reviews
Fast, Reliable, Tons of Features
Pros: Tons of unique features, and extremely fast browser
Cons: $40 fee or ads
Opera is a much faster and stable browser than its competitors, and I have no complaints about it whatsoever.
out of 79 user reviews
Best I've Tried
Pros: Everything you need in one package
Cons: Nothing I can think of
out of 79 user reviews
Best Browser you can buy
Pros: Wicked fast, 0 security holes, it isnt Firefox
Cons: a few problems with certain websites, if I have problems I just switch to Firefox or IE, no Adblock type plugin - yet.
out of 79 user reviews
Still can't do border-radius and opacity
Pros: Really fast
Cons: Speed comes at the expense of lack of some CSS support
out of 79 user reviews
Opera 8 ( Fantastic )
Pros: Lots of very useful features
Cons: More interactivity would be good.
out of 79 user reviews
The best program I've ever tried.
Pros: Ease of use, flexibility, small size, massive feature repertoire, well thought out details.
Cons: No 3rd party plugins (only JS). The integrated email client (M2) has very weak IMAP support.
About the two cons:
- I have never needed a plugin for anything that Opera doesn't already provide.
- I don't use the integrated email client.
out of 79 user reviews
The best, and fastest out there...
Pros: speed, security
Cons: prize and/or ads
out of 79 user reviews
simply the best
Pros: tabs, zoom, fit in width, M2, RSS, Chat
Cons: do not know any
out of 79 user reviews
I can't see myself paying for this!
Pros: It's fast and it's a really small download
Cons: Price/Ads, but also Overall usability and learning curve
Now that the rating has been explained, I can get to some substantive discussion of the product. Ignoring the adware/dollarware version part of it, Opera's greatest strength is that it comes packed with features - oodles of them. It's hard to think of something they didn't put in that little 3MB browser - oh yes, Opera's size embarasses the heck out of all the other browsers. But unfortunately, feature-packing is also Opera's greatest weakness (apart from the cost/ads). The packing of features makes for a cumbersome preferences panel, a stiff learning curve, and time wasted disabling features you do not want - which is in itself a cumbersome process because of the aforementioned.
Another problem I have with Opera is its User Agent deal. Opera, instead of asking webmasters to conform to standards, resorts to identifying itself as something it isn't (IE, by default), which usually doesn't work anyway, and I just don't like browsers trying to hide themselves. The current 8.0 version made this problem worse by introducing ua.ini, which allows - and defaults for some sites - complete removal of Opera's identity when a site asks for a browser ID. This hurts the standards browsing argument, and it hurts Opera.
Last but far from the least, Opera's cost/ads are a big turn-off. The truth is, Opera simply isn't worth the $40 price tag. Couple that with the point that paid browsers have not done terribly well, and you know why Opera is stuck at less than 1%. If you don't want to pay, you have to watch Google ads on the top of your screen. Yeah, like we don't already get enough ads on the web. There are better, and fee, options for you to choose from.
out of 79 user reviews
IE 7.0 and Opera 7.7 ratings? When did Cnet hire Morons?
Pros: Fact: Opera has a better security track record than both IE and FireFox! It also by FAR has more features!
Cons: Show me one and I'll run down my street naked!
out of 79 user reviews
The best I have tried.
Pros: All the features of Firefox, superfast page loads, small footprint
Cons: An extremely small number of web pages incompatible (Yahoo's Launch Music the most notible)
out of 79 user reviews
Rarely use anything else
Pros: Very fast, simple to use
Cons: Occasional pages don't accept non IE browser
out of 79 user reviews
The most innovative piece of software ever
Pros: Innovation, the best accesibility support I've ever seen, speed, security, the overall inverface is an extension of my mind ...
Cons: Not very good on projection mode, especially if you zoom in or out. Voice not on a language other than english yet
Opera currently has the best css support on the web, the same as with dom and javascript. I have confirmed this with some experiments: http://idam.ladei.com.ar/Experimentos/HTML3D/
out of 79 user reviews
Best browser you'll ever use
Pros: Too many to even begin listing here
Cons: To some, the ads and price will be a turnoff, but use it for awhile and you'll know it's worth it. :)
out of 79 user reviews
Free version not disabled in any way!
Pros: Super fast and currently no security issues.
Cons: Not as forgiving on badly-written sites.
out of 79 user reviews
Absolutely wondeful
Pros: Tabbed Browsing, MDI, Fast, Customizable, built in Mail client, built in newsreader, works on Linux and other platforms
Cons: Ads on the free version, but the text-ads aren't bad at all.
Opera is awesome.
out of 79 user reviews
DOESN'T CRASH LIKE FIREFOX!
Pros: Cocoa Skin ROCKS!
Cons: UI takes a little time to get used to
Check out the customizable skins--some of them are awesome! The custom skin "Cocoa" is the BEST!
out of 79 user reviews
Opera is free ... nothing is held back from consumers!
Pros: Fast, configurable, addicting, incredible integration of everything-Internet!
Cons: Very few minor annoyances --- far fewer than any other browser/suite I have tried
Opera is free. You don't have to pay $40 as he states. It is fully functional. Nothing is held back. No features are missing in Opera's offering which is, in fact, free. Sure, there is advertising in the free offering. You don't have to have an ad banner as Robert Vamosi says, though. You can have Google text ads, just like you see in GMail or Google searches, instead that are relevant to what you are viewing. It's that simple. No strings are attached.
I have used Opera for over 2 years now, legally, and have never paid a cent for it. And I love it!
I think it outpaces Firefox (the most hyped non-IE browser going right now).
Here's a brief reasoning for saying this:
Take it from me ... I have really attempted to do this (make Firefox like Opera in feature-set and overall functionality), too. It cannot be done! (exclamation points need not be interpreted as brain-dead fan-boyism, either)
I-N-T-E-G-R-A-T-I-O-N, baby!
Opera's integration of everything under-the-sun-on-the-Internet is unique and smart and not duplicated anywhere else.
For example:
My contact properties allow me to enter chat nicknames. When in chat, that person's unique contact image appears in the chat panel when he is online ... neat!
While chatting, I can easily send an email to one of my contacts in the chatroom ... neat!
While browsing, I can easily select a group of text and right-click and send via email to any of my contacts ... neat!
While browsing (if I need to give my neck and shoulders and rear-end a break) but am interested in reading one final article, I can simply select the text and have the voice read the article to me after I turn up the volume and take a walk around the house---neat!
While chatting, I need to spell-check my new big word ... simple with Opera, and I want to tell somebody in the chatroom about my new favorite bookmark. Simply drag the bookmark over to the chatroom posting area ... great stuff!
Ah, I just got a great newsfeed article notice ... my friend would love to read this. I know what I'll do, I'll press 'F' and forward it to him. Excellent!
I could go on and on ...
Suffice to say, the merging together of chat, browser, mail, news, and contacts makes Opera uniquely gifted.
out of 79 user reviews
Very handsome and customizable
Pros: Many features, helpful and friendly community
Cons: Discrimination from some developers
out of 79 user reviews
Java Problems
Pros: Great interface
Cons: Java Applets
Having to open IE or Mozilla to view java applets makes this browser a pain.
out of 79 user reviews
Opera Works!
Pros: Faster, More UI Control, Improved RSS, Easy to use M2, Built in IRC Chat, Good Shortcuts
Cons: Nothing bad
Coming from Opera 7.5, Opera 8 features a much improved RSS manager, and a cleaned up intereface. You can customize the interface to suit your likings.
It also features voice control, very useful for laptops, if you don't prefer keyboard shortcuts. It also features the Fit-To-Window feature, which is useful for sites like cNet, whose layouts don't fit in smaller screens.
Besides the typical featurs such as page zoom, image disabling, better printing, email built in, good CSS support, and tons of other features Opera 8 is nice because it is just eaiser to use.
I give it a 10 for a superior job well done, and I hope to see more from the Opera team!
out of 79 user reviews
Major problems with any site containing java.
Pros: Great interface (the best on the market), fast load, small footprint.
Cons: Most of java sites dont work right, some dont work at all.
out of 79 user reviews
The best Browser in my laptop
Pros: I have always liked Opera. Extremely fast, reliable, secure, impresive features and clean interface. I am glad to know I have better option
Cons: None. You do not have to pay if you do not want to.
out of 79 user reviews
A Great Option
Pros: A wide array of features, with extream levels of customability. Its every internet application you need in one. Easy to use contained web surfing.
Cons: Low plugin support. Ad supported.
out of 79 user reviews
The best browser - better that Firefox, IE and Netscape...
Pros: The best browser - better that Firefox, IE and Netscape...
Cons: The best browser - better that Firefox, IE and Netscape...
out of 79 user reviews
It's the best there is
Pros: Very fast, skins, mail, controlling cookies, the list goes on and on
Cons: Only problem I have found is java implementation on hotmail
out of 79 user reviews
better nicer faster than firefox
Pros: FAST loading speed, easy interface, and any other features of firefox and IE
Cons: crashes if too many tabs are opened
out of 79 user reviews
way better than previous opera,IE,and firefox
Pros: fast extremely fast
Cons: as usual for non-IE browser,some sites dont display properly
firefox is solid,but without extensions it's simply too weak,when with entension,it became
unbearablly slow.firefox still has a long way to go .anyway,opera is currently the best browser it deserves better review
out of 79 user reviews
You'de think it was the original browser
Pros: Easier to use than IE and Firefox
Cons: Still incompatible with Microsoft Update
out of 79 user reviews
Feature-rich, voice-capable, fast and friendly.
Pros: Fast, customizable, zoom, voice-capable, secure.
Cons: You have to learn a new (but much better) browser.
out of 79 user reviews
Undisputed Champion
Pros: true tabbed browsing; integrated email and news client; rss AND atom reader; pop-up blocking; fastest browser; NO security issues according to Secunia; highest standards compliance;
Cons: ad's in free version; locked out by microsoft services;
out of 79 user reviews
Very easy to use
Pros: Fast, easy to use, M2, Mouse gestures
Cons: Banner ads
out of 79 user reviews
Very easy to USE
Pros: You can customized the browser and it works with cell phones and PDA
Cons: Banner ads and $39 to get rid of them
out of 79 user reviews
fastest, most comprehensive browser
Pros: extremely fast
Cons: $39 to remove the ad banner
