- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 74 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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4.5 stars
"Best browser available!"
Pros: amazing customization, browsing options, built in features
Cons: options may be overwhelming, some features not necessary for most users
Summary: First off, the C|Net review here is really quite odd. The choice of what to comment on varies between things that are new in v. 9 (bittorrent, widgets) and older functionality (sessions, the trash can, and the security bar). He stated either explicitly or implicitly that some of these older features were new in v. 9 - they're not. What makes this even more confusing is that the author has failed to mention the vast number of other features and functionality Opera has which leads me to belive that he just didn't give it a fair chance.
Opera is very different from other browsers. There is a bit of a learning curve required but the full power of the application makes it worth the investment. It does work differently from other browsers in a lot of ways, from little interface behaviours to more sophisticated functionality like the mail client (which works similar to gmail).
Here is a fuller discussion of <a href="http://www.webmaster-forums.net/showthread.php?t=34660">the advantages of Opera</a>
The author of the C|Net review also failed to mention some other key new features in Opera 9. One of these is the ability to customize individual sites. So you can block pop-up windows, change cookie settings, block annoyances like animated gif's, disable frames or forms etc. etc. by the indivudal site (you've been able to do this across all sites for quite a few versions now). There is some potential to even add custom stylesheets for sites that don't display as you'd like but I haven't been able to figure that out yet.
The new content blocker will allow you to block images or ads from a certain part of a site. Handy when browsing sites full of superfluous images or ads. The thumbnail preview was mentioned in the original review. I actually find this to be a little bit annoying and there doesn't seem to be a way to turn it off.
The big advantage Opera has over other browsers is that first of all, you don't have to download anything to add additional functionality. A lot of sophisticated browsing features are built-in. And I mean *a lot*! There are many, many things Opera can do that other browsers can't or can only do with a plugin. The downside of this is that if you want something very specific (such as the web developer toolbars available in IE and Firefox, for example), you can't add it. Widgets have been implemented to address this in part. The second advantage is that the user interface is much more intuitive. There is a lot of extra functionality in Opera but it is easy to find out out how to change anything you want.
It is true that occasionally some websites will not work in Opera (such as this C|net review form). This is not because there is something wrong with the browser - it is because the site is using proprietary or non-standard programming that is not compliant with web standards. Opera actually has some of the best support for <a href="http://www.w3.org">web standards</a> - certainly better than Internet Explorer and marginally superior to Firefox.
The other reason why I am rating Opera at 9 and not 10 is because it could be a little too much for a non technical user. If you are good at figuring out software and finding features on your own, then Opera is a fabulous browser. If you are the kind of person who only uses the basic features of any software then something simple like Firefox or Internet explorer might work better. This is compounded by the fact that the default install of Opera looks quite different from other browsers and some customization is needed to make it behave in a similar way.
