Opera Vs Mozilla

[sabaijai]

I'm a long-time user of Opera and prefer the interface to other Mozilla Firefox and MSIE. It's much faster the MSIE of course and I've always felt it was faster than Firefox as well. On the other hand Firefox's interface has come closer to Opera (the first to have tabbed pages, but I wish Firefox had a close box on every tab rather than one all the way to the right, nitpicky I know).

I've also stuck with Opera because it's less targeted by hackers than Firefox or MSIE.

But it's beginning to feel like the number of websites that are incompatible with Opera in terms of function and look is not going down, as if site developers don't take Opera seriously anymore (if they ever did). Because of that I'm think of switching to Firefox.

Wondering about other opinions here, is Firefox still slower than Opera and is Opera still the most secure (in terms of not being targetted as much)?

BTW alll the comparisons I've been able to find online date to 2005, and thus refer to older versions of both browsers. I'm running Opera 9.10.

[Tywais]

I personally don't find FF slow at all. As for the tabs I use this > Tab Mix Plus and does everything you want. Also, some sites still require IE so I use this plugin for solving that problem > IE Tab . This is one of the reasons I like firefox so much and that's ability to expand to fit individual needs. Also FF 2.0 comes with a built in spell checker, very useful for forums like this.

[cdnvic]

The best part about Firefox is it's ability to be tweaked and customized. If you aren't comfortable altering the config file yourself a utility like Firetune can do it for you.

The huge repository of addons, and extensions allow you to customize it to almost your exact needs. Have a look at them at the mozilla.org website.

[penguin]

Opera is actually very tweakable, it's just not so obvious or as simple as Firefox.

The only time l have problems is with watching video from some news sites. If you are having problems for other reasons then try this.

Hit F12, go to Site Preferences, Network and select "mask as Internet Explorer"

I had a couple of sites that would never display all of the content available when using IE but editing the site preferences fixed that.

As to which is faster, l use both and l'd say Opera for sure but like anything it depends on how you have it configured. I first tried Opera about 3 years ago and didn't like it at all but on the third attempt at using it l had a good read of some of the Opera helpsites and learnt more about it so l was able to set it up without missing out on too many of the features l liked in Firefox. In the past when you first downloaded Opera it looked a mess compared to Firefox but it has improved. Getting it to look the way you want it means learning to do some things a little differently.

[sabaijai]

I did find a couple more recent comparative reviews, and one that addresses the plug-ins question more or less concludes that Opera 9+ has most of them built-in, and a lot that Firefox doesn't have available. The comments on memory usage also made an impression.

http://willlangford.com/2006/06/22/firefox-15-vs-opera-9/

Anyway I'm not really interested in the relative features of the two but speed and security. Oh yes and compatibility, I like the MSIE compatibility add-on for FF mentioned. Maybe that will be enough to move me towards FF (which I always use when available in Internet cafes already since it's rare to find Opera anywehre).

[cdnvic]

The IE tab addon is great. I love it for checking HTML compatibility as I type. I click and it renders in IE inside a FF tab.

[roblin]

my opionon:

shiira»omniweb»safari>opera>firefox»ie

how can you not fall in love with this?

http://shiira.jp/English/res/mov_tabExposeL.mov

http://shiira.jp/English/res/mov_transitionEffect.mov

http://shiira.jp/screenshot/en.php

[Mamboking]

As web-master I should say that Opera it's most difficult for me coz there is problems with JS support. This is only one point. And one more point why I'm prefer FF and IE - it's most often used by my visitors according to statistic. So I have CSS for those two browsers - FF and IE. Any other advantages or pro/contra I can't find.

Edited March 9, 2007 by Mamboking

[cdnvic]

My counters rarely show more than 1 0r 2% Opera hits at most now so I don't even bother worrying about it anymore.

Was 5% at one time.

[penguin]

My counters rarely show more than 1 0r 2% Opera hits at most now so I don't even bother worrying about it anymore.

Was 5% at one time.

How would people like me who use Opera but often mask it as Firefox or Internet Explorer affect those stats? I wouldn't show up as using Opera or would l?

[cdnvic]

My counters rarely show more than 1 0r 2% Opera hits at most now so I don't even bother worrying about it anymore.

Was 5% at one time.

How would people like me who use Opera but often mask it as Firefox or Internet Explorer affect those stats? I wouldn't show up as using Opera or would l?

To be honest you can show up with lynx dressed up as Konqueror, it really doesn't matter to me.

[JustAnotherFarang]

I use Opera and have been using it for 2 years now. I recently downloaded Firefox and it seemed a little basic to be honest........and definately slower. I know I could add this and that to make it more functional but why would I when I have it all already in Opera

Stick to what you know best, especially when people dont know any better

JAF

[sabaijai]

I use Opera and have been using it for 2 years now. I recently downloaded Firefox and it seemed a little basic to be honest........and definately slower. I know I could add this and that to make it more functional but why would I when I have it all already in Opera

Stick to what you know best, especially when people dont know any better

JAF

I just changed my Preferences to 'mask as MSIE', will see if that makes a difference for compatibility. Both gmail and Yahoo beta email had logon problems using Opera, before i did this. Now they both work fine. I do feel a definte speed difference between Opera and FF, so think I'll stick with Opera for now.

[Gary A]

There are things about Firefox and IE7 that I don't like. I recently downloaded Avant and so far it is great. Faster than Firefox and I have found that it will do anything that I need. Absolutely no short comings yet.

[cdnvic]

Avant is like Maxthon, a re-skinned IE with some extensions. Any exploit that hits IE also get's Avant.

[Gary A]

Avant is like Maxthon, a re-skinned IE with some extensions. Any exploit that hits IE also get's Avant.

That's why I pay for BitDefender and ZoneAlarm Pro. I'd guess that a lot of sites (Thai Visa) hate Avant because it blocks a TON of banner ads.

[cdnvic]

Avant is like Maxthon, a re-skinned IE with some extensions. Any exploit that hits IE also get's Avant.

That's why I pay for BitDefender and ZoneAlarm Pro. I'd guess that a lot of sites (Thai Visa) hate Avant because it blocks a TON of banner ads.

I never see them (or google ads, or flash ads)in Firefox.

Edited March 10, 2007 by cdnvic

[penguin]

I'd guess that a lot of sites (Thai Visa) hate Avant because it blocks a TON of banner ads.

There are ads on Thai Visa?

[joka]

Does anyone have a good way of saving web pages with opera?

[PattayaDavid]

The only thing I don't like about Opera is that I can't highlight and copy a web page then paste it elsewhere as it is displayed on the webpage. When I highlight a webpage then copy it into, lets say into a Microsoft Word document, it is displayed in a text format. Also, when I highlight a webpage, the pictures aren't highlighted and cannot be copied along with the text. I'm sure I was able to do this in earlier versions of Opera before I upgraded to versions 8 and 9.

For now, when I need to copy an entire webpage for pasting elsewhere, I have to open the webpage in Internet Explorer. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my Opera application and how to correct the copy and paste problem?

Pattaya Dave

[nikster]

Avant is like Maxthon, a re-skinned IE with some extensions. Any exploit that hits IE also get's Avant.

That's why I pay for BitDefender and ZoneAlarm Pro. I'd guess that a lot of sites (Thai Visa) hate Avant because it blocks a TON of banner ads.

I would not trust any AV software to protect against browser exploits. The reason is simply that the incoming malware will disable any AV products before doing what it wants to do. Also, many AV programs don't protect from spyware.

The problem with IE in particular is that it's unsafe by design. Other browsers have bugs, but with IE many of the holes were features once upon a time, hence it's much harder to close them (applications might break) and it's impossible to fix them all. Vista is doing the right thing by running the entire app in a sandbox, but unfortunately the implementation is flawed. The next exploits are just around the corner. The hope that remains is that holes in the sandbox should - in theory - be easier to fix.

In the meantime, use Firefox and be a lot safer than IE. AV programs will protect you from email viruses, that's all...

[nikster]

I'm a long-time user of Opera and prefer the interface to other Mozilla Firefox and MSIE. It's much faster the MSIE of course and I've always felt it was faster than Firefox as well. On the other hand Firefox's interface has come closer to Opera (the first to have tabbed pages, but I wish Firefox had a close box on every tab rather than one all the way to the right, nitpicky I know).

Firefox now has a close box on every tab. That's always bothered me too, but they fixed it in 2.0.

I don't quite understand how Opera is faster than Firefox? I mean, Firefox is based on Mozilla, so the code base behind it is a big ugly mess - understood. But the interface is nice, and I wait for the network, never for anything else. It's not like Firefox uses any CPU. Memory footprint is another matter, there the whole Mozilla mess comes to light.. I live with it because I like FF and the many brilliant plug-ins.

I don't think I would be able to surf the web without Flashblock, for example...

[Gary A]

I downloaded Opera 9.1 and there is still no spellchecker. Other than that Opera is a great browser.

Avant can use IE Spell and it blocks a LOT more banners and advertising than Opera.

[cdnvic]

Can you not configure it to block all ads?

[Gary A]

Can you not configure it to block all ads?

It's set to block ALL pop-ups.

[Gary A]

I was able to install Aspell for Opera 9.1 and it's not as nice as IE spell but it works well enough. I'll be using Opera 9.1 until I find some glitches that I can't live with. Maybe there will be no glitches?

[cdnvic]

Can you not configure it to block all ads?

It's set to block ALL pop-ups.

Not banners, google ads, and flash ads?

[yeti]

If you change to FF you'll greatly miss mouse gestures (I use those in Maxthon, but they are also implemented in Opera I think). Or has FF integrated mouse gestures at least?

[cdnvic]

If you change to FF you'll greatly miss mouse gestures (I use those in Maxthon, but they are also implemented in Opera I think). Or has FF integrated mouse gestures at least?

They're an easy addon.

[PattayaDavid]

The only thing I don't like about Opera is that I can't highlight and copy a web page then paste it elsewhere as it is displayed on the webpage. When I highlight a webpage then copy it into, lets say into a Microsoft Word document, it is displayed in a text format. Also, when I highlight a webpage, the pictures aren't highlighted and cannot be copied along with the text. I'm sure I was able to do this in earlier versions of Opera before I upgraded to versions 8 and 9.

For now, when I need to copy an entire webpage for pasting elsewhere, I have to open the webpage in Internet Explorer. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my Opera application and how to correct the copy and paste problem?

Pattaya Dave

Any suggestions on how to correct this problem?  I've explored every toolbar and pull-down in the program and it still leaves me scratching my head.