I have been an avid Opera user since a long time ago and I LOVE it! But it’s also a fact that it’s not in the top 3 list of most widely used web browser even though it definitely deserves to be.
Is it because of speed?
It has been the fastest browser I’ve used before Chrome came along. But with Opera 10.5, Opera looks promising to regain the top spot.
Is it because of extensions?
Well, there’s Opera Widget but it doesn’t seem to get enough attention from developers when compared to Firefox and Chrome.
Is it because of Developer Utilities?
Developer Utilities as in the sense of Firebug in Firefox, WebKit for Safari and Chrome and Developer Tools in IE. But then, there’s Opera Dragonfly since Opera 10.
Is it because of marketing?
Putting IE aside since it’s preinstalled with most Windows based PC and there’s no one stupid enough to install IE on Mac or Linux), Opera definitely needs more effort in its marketing efforts when compared to Firefox and Chrome.
So, what do you say?
I also been using Opera on off for about 18 months ad i do love it, BUT the main cruncher is, i believe, theres no Adblock Plus EH, Noscript, Refcontrol, Prefbar etc etc addons available, as per Firefox, if the user isnt like a serverninja its virtually imposs to have ANY form of control of Opera, in many ways it feels exactly like surfin the web anno 1999 aka popups and intrusive banner all over, and that is NOT even an option for most users today, and since Opera has stated there will never be anything close to a Noscript addon whatsoever built into Opera, no wonder they will never be Top 3, its that simple.
I love Opera and it is my default browser i think it really is a very good browser with many great features for example i cant use other browser because you cant search with just pressing “.” or you cant copy items to note or you cant zoom within webpages like opera does or its very easy keyboard shortcuts(you just have to press the familiar Ctrl+Z to reopen a newly closed tab where in FIREFOX and CHROME its Ctrl+Shipf+T) also its current stable build is the fastest excluding chrome but 10.5 is as fast as chrome. so i think i am addicted to Opera!!
ps: when comparing the speed of various browsers i think one should keep in mind the speed in which the broser loads multiple pages simultaneously one in the view and others in the background as i usually open various webpages together i have seen that opera is the fastest in this front and it is very important for me.
mouse gesture = best browser
I haven’t look into opera’s mouse gestures even though I know it’s been there for ages. Time to take another look