Why do you not use Opera?

[ethanp]

I am working on an article and doing a bit of research beforehand, so I'm posting this here and a few other places. I am not interested in debating, just gathering some quick information; therefore, I do not plan on countering any claims (different for me, eh?).

My question is why do you *not* use Opera? Just one main reason and try to sum it up in as few words as possible. Also post what browser and OS you do use.

If you use Opera please feel free to explain briefly the main reason that you use Opera.

[php_daemon]

I've been using Opera, it was all good except one little detail -- the connection speed. On any decent connection, it would probably not be a problem, but on my rather slow connection (256kbps) it was always suffering hiccups; especially when loading pages with lots of images -- that used to take several refreshes to load. I didn't like that, so I switched to FF -- no problems ever since.

Using Windows.

[Raffles]

I like the extensions I use with Firefox too much to switch to Opera. I use FF 2 and Windows XP.

[brothercake]

Opera rules my online world - no other browser even comes close.

It's the most user-centric browser, giving you far more detailed control over what websites are and are not allowed to do (you can even set display and behavioral preferences on a per-site basis), and giving absolute control over the UI. With Opera you can make the browser look and behave exactly how you want - button by button, field by field, image by script.

It has more comprehensive status information, more thorough script debugging, more sophisticated management of bookmarks, better keyboard navigation, built in user scripting, built in mouse gestures, easy options for things like disabling JS and images that you can put right on the toolbar.

And it handles history navigation properly - when you click "back" in Opera's history it doesn't reload the previous page, it literally re-creates its previous processor snapshot, which is invaluable for form-based interfaces, not to mention speeding up average load times by optimizing caching behavior.

And those "cool new" features in Firefox, like restoring a session when restarting the browser, and drag/restore of tabs - Opera's had them for years!

[RetroNetro]

I like the extensions I use with Firefox too much to switch to Opera. I use FF 2 and Windows XP.

I second this. There are several things I do with FF extensions that (as far as I know) cannot be done with Opera.

[php_daemon]

brothercake, I smell commission.

[vgarcia]

Because Safari is the nicest browser on OS X in my opinion.

[r937]

Just one main reason and try to sum it up in as few words as possible.

because my browser shows me the world wide web the way the overwhelming majority of people see it, which is important to me

[Shpook]

Honestly, the lack of plugin support and the way that plugins integrate into the browser.

[Raffles]

To be honest, I "hear" brothercake. Other things I like about Opera are that you are shown useful information when hovering over a tab and the fact it uses a ridiculously small amount of memory - something like 10MB when Firefox is using about 100. How Opera does that and be so responsive, fast to load and on top of it all have instant back support galaxies better than Firefox's is beyond me.

It's just a very intuitive, well thought-out browser. Despite all that, I stand by my original post - I like my extensions too much. Firefox isn't a bad browser at all and I've becomed accustomed to it. I've also customised it to my heart's content and understand what's going on in its insides it fairly well. I can customise on a site-by-site basis with userContent.css and Greasemonkey (yes, I know it's built into Opera, like so many other things that are only available as extensions for FF). In fact, the only real gripe I have with Firefox is its enormous memory footprint (I only have 352MB of RAM according to Windows, 384 according to me) and its annoying unresponsiveness. This is especially true when, as a page is loading, I click on another tab and it doesn't actually show me the contents until the original tab has finished loading.

[ethanp]

vgarcia, you're reason is a bit vague. Care to elaborate a bit on why you prefer Safari over Opera? I can think of a few (the lack of OSX like stuff in Opera is the top on my list).

r937, I believe I recall you saying you use IE? Is this true? You just did not post this, so I want to make sure.

Good stuff so far, and what I expected. Then brothercake sounds like my clone. Of course we were both mentioned in some recent sitepoint blog post as Opera lovers, lol.

[AnOmAlY_]

I run XP and use both Opera and Firefox.

Opera is the fastest browser.
http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html

There are things I like and dislike about both browsers.
Since this post is about opera I will talk about Opera.

When I was first introduced to Opera it wasn't freeware.
I bought a student license and was up and running.

From a security perspective the developers of Opera are
serious about patching any vulnerabilities with there product.

For a reference look @ this:

Vulnerability Report: Opera 9.x
http://secunia.com/product/10615/?task=advisories

Note: The green check mark means the issue has been fixed.

Vulnerability Report: Mozilla Firefox 2.0.x
http://secunia.com/product/12434/?task=advisories

Firefox makes up for this with there extensions/add-ons initiative.

Opera has many features pre-installed:
http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/

Opera Security Features
http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/security/

Web Specifications Supported in Opera 9
http://www.opera.com/docs/specs/

From a web developer perspective I place this
browser on top of the others. When coding
and testing on other browsers something that
makes logical sense coding wise does not respond
well in other browsers. Firefox rarely has issues.
Its been awhile since working on a web project so
I can't speak for IE7.

...

[CaryD]

I don't like the way it handles cookies.

[brothercake]

because my browser shows me the world wide web the way the overwhelming majority of people see it, which is important to me

Why is that important to you?

When it comes to development and design, perhaps it makes sense to treat Firefox as the norm - for all those minor quirks and variations, let Firefox get the perfect layout, and other browsers get the small-but-insignificant deviations (although I still favour Opera there too, but that's just me ).

As a development browser, I agree that Firefox has an invaluable range of features - Firebug, the DOM inspector, all kinds of extensions that are incredibly useful for development. I wouldn't be able to do my job as effectively without a copy of Firefox to hand.

But I'm not always a developer. Sometimes I'm just a user, and that's when I prefer Opera. Opera has no political agenda, and doesn't rely on a legion of third-party tools to be effective. It just works, and it's on my side

(And .. btw and slightly ot .. Opera Mobile is the *only* decent mobile browser. Pocket IE is just IE4 on a small screen, while Minimo [the mobile version of firefox] is laughably bad - worse than Pocket IE!)

[r937]

r937, I believe I recall you saying you use IE? Is this true? You just did not post this, so I want to make sure.

actually, yes, it is, however, that's not what this thread is about, is it -- just that it's *not* opera

Why is that important to you?

why does that matter?

[Dan Schulz]

He's asking because he's writing an article, and would like some reasoning to back up the claims the people he is polling are making.

And yes, I'm a die-hard Opera user. Browse, develop, you name it. Now only if it could only make my meals for me...

[ethanp]

just that it's *not* opera

No, I asked in the thread starter to post what browser and OS you used if it was not Opera... It sorta makes your comments make more sense.

I use Opera as my norm for programming/design. Firefox plays along fine though most of the time.

[AnOmAlY_]

I don't like the way it handles cookies.

What do you mean by this?

Opera's handling of cookies
http://www.opera.com/support/search/view/350/

Opera Cookie Settings Table
http://files.myopera.com/burnout426/...modified2.html

[CaryD]

No, I asked in the thread starter to post what browser and OS you used if it was not Opera...

Oh, I missed that. I use Firefox on Windows 2000. Opera is fast, but I only like to be asked once how it should handle cookies from a new domain. Opera seems to ask repeatedly for each cookie from the server upon loading the initial page. Subsequent pages and return visits are fine, but the requester that pops up requires me to fiddle with a drop-down menu every time. I'd prefer it to remember my last setting so I can just click a button.

[AnOmAlY_]

Opera seems to ask repeatedly for each cookie
from the server upon loading the initial page.

To fix that go to:

1. Tools
2. Preferences...
3. Advanced
4. Cookies
5. Accept only cookies from the site I visit
6. Check delete new cookies when exiting Opera
7. Uncheck Ask me before accepting new cookies
8. Press OK

[CaryD]

But I want it to ask... only once, instead of multiple times.

[AnOmAlY_]

But I want it to ask... only once, instead of multiple times.

If you know that you are visiting a site.

Wouldn't you want to be more concerned about the
AD's, SEO javascript, that's attaching itself to a page?

[CaryD]

Well, the request was for one main reason why I don't use Opera. Cookie handling is it. When I think javascript may be a problem, Opera gives me the option I want, which is to turn it off. It doesn't give me the cookie handling option I want. Both IE and Firefox do.

[Dan Schulz]

Are you doing this globally or on a per-site basis though?

[CaryD]

On a per-site basis.