Opera 11 Web-Browser Released

[Chewi]

I also wish it wasn't closed but it's not a deal breaker for me. Have I forsaken my freedoms? I think not. There are no lockins that you might get with other kinds of software. I'm free to use Firefox any time I like. I just choose not to. I've been an Opera user for over 10 years, longer than I've been a Linux user. It was highly innovative back then and I like what they've been doing since.

[Kano]

The first opera linux/solaris releases have been really buggy and crashed often. At that time netscape was basically the standard webbrower. Then mozilla evolved and got my favorite browser, later i had to switch to firefox. As firefox was definitely the market leader opera focussed on some aspects like full css support for acid test, got faster and had serveral features included like mail+torrent client. Getting faster is usually never wrong, but then came chrome without the stupid id and then i liked it too as it was without the search and adressbar split which i hated always since i switched from mozilla to firefox. Basicially opera is the market leader for embedded browsers in tv or something without android but well i do not need it. Also i hated that for very long time you had to sign a contract before you could officially add opera to a live iso and distribute it.

[BlackStar]

Another hint for compiz users: install the "clean" Opera skin, add a close button to the right edge of the tab bar (Menu -> Settings -> Appearance (Shift-F12) -> Buttons) and remove the window decorations for the Opera window:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
ccsm

go to "Window Decoration" and modify "Decoration Windows" from "any" to "(any) & !(title=Opera)" (without quotes).

Voila, instant tabs-on-top-edge-of screen like Chrome!

For extra points, install avant-window-navigator, set it to the left edge of the screen and disable gnome-panel. You are halfway to Ubuntu Unity already

[BlackStar]

(Fake edit)

Obligatory screenshot:


Perfection!

[yogi_berra]

No real reason under Linux to choose that proprietary browser when you have two great free options.

Depending on the distribution those great free browsers include free security holes for the life of the distro. What a bargain!

[yesterday]

Depending on the distribution those great free browsers include free security holes for the life of the distro. What a bargain!

What the hell does freedom of code have to do with security?

Have you ever heard of IE6?

[curaga]

I too have both FF and Opera installed. However I couldn't think of using FF (vanilla, at least) for any extended period of time, it's just so unintuitive with its tab-placement and cycling, among other things. When I open a new tab or cycle to another with ctrl-tab, it seems to pick where it goes randomly, and never goes to where I want it to.

Re Opera closed source. Yes, that's a downside, but when it offers superior features for me, I'll continue using it over alternatives. BTW also an Opera user since the ad-supported 5.x days.

[Chewi]

I actually paid to remove the ads. Pay?! For a web browser!? Hah! Funny to think of it now.

[devius]

Obligatory screenshot:

Perfection!

Sorry to disapoint you but that doesn't look anything like unity. It looks SOOOOOOOOO much better!
That screenshot illustrates one of the things I like about opera: it's unbelievably customizable, although at first (and second and third) glance it doesn't look like it. It also has a feature that firefox still lacks: change themes and other stuff without restarting the whole browser each time. Chrome(ium) also has themes, and applies them instantly but they are all hideous and only change colors. It's also one of the less customizable browsers (looks-wise) out there.

[myxal]

As an Opera user since long ago (7.2 I think...) Opera's development in the recent years has me torn between using Opera and Chromium.

• Desktop integration is now better than when the switch to VEGA took place, but is still lacking compared to old Qt Opera, never mind Windows Opera.
• I'm not going to call all Opera's features "bloat" but it seems to impede on the company's ability to perform comprehensive testing. Something in my profile kills extensions, at one point IRC transfers didn't work and whole bunch of other minor annoyances few people run into have made it well past a stable release.
• Menu placement still sucks...
• ... and don't get me started on what happens when you change display layout/resolution - Opera is totally oblivious to this.
• I fell in love with Chromium's diacritics-insensitive page search. It baffles me that Opera, developed by an international team of people, most of which have diacritics in their native language, haven't implemented this yet.
• Chromium's scroll-on-tab-bar-to-switch-tabs is also neat. Tab drag-and-drop is also more flexible and reliable than in Opera.
• Creating custom search with keyword in Chromium is an exercise in frustration - how did Google get something obvious so wrong?
• Apparently Google's devs are holding onto their 5:4. 4:3 and 16:10 displays quite tightly. Meanwhile, us commoners have to do with progressively shorter screens - yesterday was too late for Chromium to get vertical tabs.
• Open-new-tab-next-to-active and Ctrl-tab-switching-to-most-recent rather than either left or right for the win. Managing >20 tabs in Chromium drives me crazy pretty fast.