Boredomistan: Use Opera you ignorant morons

Comment from WiseGuy

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:36:00 GMT

Heh, no worries, thanks for answering all my boring questions. I really like the sound of that custom search feature. While in-built torrent support is pretty cool, i think i'd probably still use µtorrent. Just checked that list of extensions and aww - Net Usage Item not available. I suppose there's a tray tool for that kind of thing, but it's handy. Since i've been trying Chrome i've missed it. Anyway, i might give Opera a go some time, especially if i'm ever able to upgrade this aging machine - right now Chrome's speed and separate-process tabs are invaluable.

Comment from silpheed

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:18:09 GMT

That would be better than the Ctrl+D tool Indeed Opera can do that; highlight a URL on a webpage, right click and click 'Go to Web Address'. It's also bindable to a shortcut key of your choosing. I think it's slightly less useful than Ctrl + D as a URL on a webpage is usually already a hyperlink. Ctrl + D is most useful when getting an URL from some other place like a text file. what is the bookmark hot key? Any key you like! Each of Opera's operations are bindable to any shortcut key, key sequence, mouse gesture or voice command you like. There are always some people who find infinite configuration operations daunting, so there are sensible default shortcuts. Bookmarking a page is Ctrl + T. OK, maybe that one's not so sensible. Does it put each tab in it's own process so you can fuck off any that are hogging resources or not responding, like Google Chrome does? No unfortunately :-(. I quite like that too. Chrome also has the universal address/search bar thing goin' on... This is one of my pet bugbears. Opera had Firefox's Awesome Bar a full year before Firefox had it. Something mundane for Opera was overnight a sensation for Firefox. Grrr. At least Firefox ported it to the main install rather than leave it in add-on form like nearly all the rest of Firefox's useful functionality. . Anyway, Opera's address bar does all that you mention that Firefox's and Chrome's does, plus more. The address bar can be used as a search engine field for a heap of useful default sites, plus custom ones that you can add yourself. I can't remember the last time I've been to Google's landing page. Being a young and hip go-getter, my custom searches include 'ud ' for Urban Dictionary, 'imdb ' for IMDB and even 'b ' for Boredomistan! Who says I'm vain? There's even a few cute defaults, like typing "/." will send you to Slashdot. Another cool thing about Chrome is that the interface automatically takes up the least amount of window space... Opera's UI is extremely configurable, though a bit chunky (and therefore in my opinion, ugly) right after install. I like the minimalist approach too, so my UI contains just the menu bar, tab bar and address bar. My bookmarks, history and downloads windows (called 'Panels' in Opera') are hidden away on the far right as a tiny bar a few pixels wide, so when I need them I can flick my mouse to the side and click. Opera like all other browsers has full-screen view, though no one ever seems to use it. I don't either. ...but like any real porn addict i download movies via torrents and occasionally obscure forums... Did I mention that Opera can directly download BitTorrented files? No? Because it can! You don't get the same finesse of control over the download like you would in a fully featured BitTorrent client, but it's there for those who want to use it and easily disabled for those that don't. Searching for torrents is easy too with the above mentioned address bar search. For example I have 'iso ' for IsoHunt. ...portable FF can easily be synced with your home version for multi-machine goodness without *shiver* an actual database of your deviance being kept... Alas, Opera doesn't do that. That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your point of view. Opera takes the view that a user has no 'main' install of Opera, perhaps that's a little naïve. Opera too has a portable version. If you use a portable browser then you already know the benefits. ...so many FF addons that i doubt Opera has a "feature" for them all. Of course, but Opera comes close. So close that if it came any closer, I'd likely be turned off it. Here is a list of the Top 150 Firefox Extensions and how they map to Opera features. This list is nearly two years old and unfortunately I can't find a more up-to-date one, and as you can imagine both browsers have grown ahead in leaps and bounds since then. That list will at least serve to prove that Opera is a much more fully featured browser than 99.99% of the Firefox setups out there. What that list doesn't show is the functionality available to Opera and not available in a Firefox Extension, or which Extensions were pinched from Opera functionality (and very occasionally, vice versa). Perhaps people will start writing addons/plugins for Opera? Yep, Opera has it's own extensions system, called Plug-Ins (functionality improvements) and Widgets (GUI improvements and sometimes separate programs). I've honestly never had the need to use either. There are a number of Firefox Extensions out there that give Firefox some of Opera's functionality, such as Speed Dial. With all this Firefox bashing going on I think it's time to give some credit where it's due. Firefox's web development extension Firebug is still superior to Opera's equivalent, and the size of Firefox's userbase is something that Opera can only dream of. Thank you for letting me write the second half of my post.

Comment from WiseGuy

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:05:20 GMT

Some interesting features... I've wondered why you can highlight something on a page and automatically open a new tab with the wikipedia search response for that string in firefox, yet you can't simply highlight something and open it in a new tab as a URL (you could easily do a quick check of string to see if it is indeed an address and only include that option on the context menu, even). That would be better than the Ctrl+D tool, and if Ctrl+D does that, what is the bookmark hot key? Does it put each tab in it's own process so you can fuck off any that are hogging resources or not responding, like Google Chrome does? Chrome also has the universal address/search bar thing goin' on, which i like, and FF's (and Chrome's, i think) addy bar now searches your bookmarks for any string you start to enter, plus you can hard assign strings to any bookmark, for that command-line speed. Another cool thing about Chrome is that the interface automatically takes up the least amount of window space (leaving more for the actual page content). You can fullscreen FF, but that screws with a popup taskbar, whereas an only-tabs-at-the-top maxed Chrome window will not. How does Opera fair in that regard? Chrome is cool, but in it's infancy, so while it starts up nice and quick, It's fairly lean (not necessarily a bad thing). It has no nice interface for skins/colours and is missing a few other non-essential-but-nice options. It's context menus are good, it's download managing is quite nice (better than FF's)... I would probably give Opera a go if i felt that i would use any of it's features not already catered for by FF and/or Chrome, but like any real porn addict i download movies via torrents and occasionally obscure forums, i don't waste time with pages of static pics (i mean really... just go buy a stick mag). Oh yeah, portable FF can easily be synced with your home version for multi-machine goodness without *shiver* an actual database of your deviance being kept, and i like my gmail account, which takes up absolutely no room on my local drives, thankyou. Also, there are so many FF addons that i doubt Opera has a "feature" for them all. Perhaps people will start writing addons/plugins for Opera? Or is that not how it works? Good to see another post :)

Comment from liban

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:47:35 GMT

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Comment from liban

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:44:14 GMT

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Comment from silpheed

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:44:28 GMT

Well thank you very much for sharing that.

Comment from Clown

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:09:10 GMT

My anus has gold inside it.

Comment from Mat

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:23:11 GMT

The fit to width option is a godsend for my toy laptop and the inbuilt email client kicks much arse.

Comment from silpheed

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:04:27 GMT

It's all true! DJ-Napkin used to be a 97 pound weakling, now he bench-presses a hot babe on each arm and kicks sand in the faces of others.

Comment from djnapkin

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:23:40 GMT

Silpheed introduced me to Opera years ago. Since then my acne has cleared, I got a hot girlfriend and I'm totally loaded. Thanks Silpheed and Opera.