
Faster and better browsing – Welcome Opera 41 - Sykox
https://www.opera.com/blogs/desktop/2016/10/86-percent-faster-opera-41-for-computers/
======
floatboth
Wow, Opera has a built-in video pop-out feature. That's very nice. I wrote a
script to do that in X11 a while ago:
[https://github.com/myfreeweb/dotfiles/blob/32c9cfd8d5e0a3a2c...](https://github.com/myfreeweb/dotfiles/blob/32c9cfd8d5e0a3a2c42c929f10cee9edea0e42fb/x11/floatyoutube)
after I saw a Mac app that does this.

~~~
jasonkostempski
I've always wanted a fill-tab feature for video. The video fills the view port
of the tab and removes all the other content but remains just a regular tab.
Does it do that by any chance?

~~~
ijanos
Hi! I've created a really simple Chrome extension that does this for YouTube,
check out it out:

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fulltube/nmabgnejf...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fulltube/nmabgnejfbfgjdifjflceagbglmllefe)

source code:
[https://github.com/ijanos/fulltube](https://github.com/ijanos/fulltube)

------
halflings
Good to know, but nothing to make a fuss about: Looking at the video, it seems
that they are now simply loading the currently open tab before the others
(starting by the ones adjacent to it) instead of loading all tabs at once.
Other browsers have had this for a while

~~~
oblio
> Other browsers have had this for a while

Hilariously, Opera itself used to have this! I think it was one of the first
browsers that had this :)

(at least that's what I remember from back in the day, maybe my memory is
deceiving me)

~~~
trextrex
Well, the new Opera already had an option to load tabs on demand when you
switch to it after starting up. I guess now they're adding an option to load
them in the background. In terms of performance the load tab on demand works
reasonably well.

------
rhlala
The only thing i want from opera now is open source, I enjoyed opera for years
now, and it is my favorite one by far,

But i am a little concerned about it is not opensource, witch make forefox a
better choice for privacity...

~~~
jasonkostempski
TIL. I always assumed it was open source and was about to try it. Oh well.

~~~
aikah
Nope, you even had to pay to use it in the past.

------
cm3
I wish Chrome would adopt Vivaldi's and Opera's feature to not close the
window if you're closing the last tab. This works nicely in Firefox, Opera and
Vivaldi, and I always accidentally close Chrome. I've seen Chrome extensions
for this, but they don't do this properly and take up considerable memory for
something that should be a core feature.

~~~
jve
Well, I actually enjoy that feature, especially using mouse middle click to
close tabs & browser. Why do you want browser to stay open when you are
actually closing it?

~~~
fdgdasfadsf
Because I'm not closing it. I'm closing the tab. Opening chrome takes a few
seconds to open which is annoying when I want to quickly google something
without loosing focus.

~~~
jve
Ok, I understand.

But you can press ALT+D, type your google text, hit enter.

No need to close tab, no need to open home page, no need to move mouse.

~~~
lmm
The point is that I want to close my current tab - I'm done with it. I just
don't want to close the whole browser - I want it hanging around with no tabs
in it so that I don't have to take the time to launch it again. Like closing
all files in an IDE or Photoshop.

------
Mithaldu
Now if only they'd deliver on the marketing talk about actually getting Opera
v12 features into Chromera, or at least do the human thing of opening up the
source of v12.

Till then, quite a few people will stick with v12 as main browser.

Also, beware: The browser part of the Opera company was sold to chinese
malware producer Qihoo 360, after they failed to buy the entire company.

~~~
IsmaOlvey
The problem with sticking to 12 is that it's not really an option any more.
You lose out on newer web technologies, and at least on Windows you run into
security issues, since enabling newer TLS versions makes Opera prone to crash.

~~~
Mithaldu
Incorrect. With these customizations you can make it very easy to open any
page/link from inside Opera in any other browser:

[https://gist.github.com/wchristian/9a479b6969ba653681f50b415...](https://gist.github.com/wchristian/9a479b6969ba653681f50b415dcc89e4)

It is in practice entirely viable to keep using Opera as the main browser and
punt troublemakers to other browsers as necessary.

~~~
IsmaOlvey
That it's easy to work around doesn't mean it's incorrect.

That aside, the SSL/TLS issues alone make it unusable. Changing the settings
to make it use the newest TLS version it has support for makes it crash, and
even if it did there are no updates at all any more. That means no security
fixes, no support for new cipher suites, etc.

~~~
Mithaldu
You said: "not an option anymore"

This is incorrect in various ways, if only because there exists at least one
example of someone using it successfully as the main browser, while also being
employed as a web dev: Me.

~~~
EpicEng
You're right; just not an option to most reasonable people.

~~~
Mithaldu
Ah yes, ad hominem, the tool of choice for reasonable people.

~~~
EpicEng
I don't think you know what that means, and throwing the term around doesn't
make you sound smart. I'm attacking your argument in that it is a ridiculous
workaround for a problem that doesn't really exist.

~~~
Mithaldu
Nah man, i know exactly what it means and what your game is. You're pretty
sad. :)

~~~
EpicEng
Yeah... I guess my "game" is that I wouldn't use an outdated browser and rely
on a plugin to avoid security bugs and sites that use modern features. What
are you even talking about?

~~~
Mithaldu
Primarily that you've sufficient lack of clue as to what you're even talking
about that assuming I'm insane may in fact be healthiest for your machinery.

------
zenincognito
I use Chrome , Firefox , Opera all for different reason. The one that I find
most appealing even though I am a big chrome fan is Opera.Opera's inbuilt ad-
blocker is pretty decent and combine that with the great usable bookmarking
engine I find it very usable on 2 - 24 inch screens.

Firefox used to be great but rendering webpages just feels faster on
Chrome/Opera. Opera has great potential to become a great browser as long as
it focuses on adblocking and security by default.

~~~
michalstanko
And Opera is the only one who got tab switching with Ctrl+Tab right. That's
the single most important feature which made me use Opera as my default
browser.

(For dev tools, just press Ctrl+Shift+I instead of F12).

~~~
thomasahle
Interesting. One of my biggest issues with Opera is its seemingly random tab
switching order. If I open ten tabs and want to go through them one by one, I
first have to go through all my old tabs. There used to be an option to change
this, but they removed it long ago :/

~~~
jack1243star
I like Vivaldi[1] for its keeping most of the options, such as the one you've
mentioned.

[1] [https://vivaldi.com](https://vivaldi.com)

------
tiku
A few months ago i stumbled upon the new Opera, in search of battery saving on
my Macbook Pro. My battery lasts longer than when using Chrome, because of the
built in power saving. The VPN addition is nice to, for testing purposes or
just surfing safely. The only problem i have with Opera for now is that i'm
not able to use Chrome plugins.. Not everything is available on Opera.

~~~
jwr
On a Mac, I just use Safari. It is very power efficient, fast, pages scroll
smoothly, it's basically the best browser for the platform.

I switch to Chrome for web development because of the better developer tools,
but my battery life suffers badly when I do that.

~~~
dictum
On a desktop Mac with a lot of RAM, would you pick Safari over Chrome for
general browsing?

I've been using Chrome for a while but I'm thinking of switching back to
Safari.

I no longer have a big need for extensions that are not available for Safari
(I miss uBlock, but I think I can make do with a Safari Content Blocker list
and dnsmasq) I don't have a Macbook but I might start using it soon, so it'd
nice to use the same browser in both devices.

~~~
jwr
Yes, definitely. Safari is more responsive, scrolls better and is overall
faster.

------
babayega2
I had my Ubuntu 14.04 freezing a lot when Chrome is launched. I switched to
Opera and no more freezes.

Beside, living in a sub-African nation, Opera VPN helps me access some
restricted shows.

I use Firefox for downloading stuffs over the net : the DownthemAll extension
is what makes me use Firefox. Nothing else.

------
ksec
I really wish I could use Opera, but without Tab Overflow, having more then 15
tabs means the tabs are so small, and you cant read the title of the Tab. This
is espeically important when i have multiple Tabs open on the same site, and
therefore same site icon showing.

Mouse Traveling to Tab List and select is just annoying. When you know the Tab
you want is somewhere in here right next to it.

I really want to use Opera, it is so much faster, but for power ( many Tabs )
users It seems the only choice right now, ( and for the past years ) is only
Firefox.

~~~
cgrinds
Vivaldi with vertical tabs work well for this too, coupled with the keyboard
shortcut to bring up a fuzzy tab selector. It's pretty awesome. Plus you get
tab cycling in recently used order - the only sane option.

------
V-2
...and mouse gestures still aren't customizable again (they already had this
long, long ago).

~~~
cm3
They are customizable in Vivaldi ([https://vivaldi.net/en-
US/teamblog/162-mouse-gestures-to-the...](https://vivaldi.net/en-
US/teamblog/162-mouse-gestures-to-the-rescue)), another browser, which is made
by ex-Opera folks, include the CEO and former core devs. I'm not saying one is
better than the other, but Vivaldi is also Blink-based and has been restoring
other Opera 12 features than Opera Opera has.

~~~
V-2
Customizable, yet not very usable - if the gesture you want to set already
exists, Vivaldi doesn't let you overwrite it (unassigning the other one).
Hell, it doesn't even tell you which one has taken it : ) Gotta find it on
your own. Did they test it?

------
the_duke
I haven't used Opera for a long, long time.

How does it stack up currently against Chrome?

Anyone here using it as their main browser?

~~~
Sylos
Well, in case you managed to ignore the news in 2013 (a lot of people did), it
uses Chrome's Blink-engine now, instead of the Presto-engine which they
previously developed. So, it's very much identical to Chrome for the most
part.

~~~
colbyh
In fact, you can use Chrome plugins for Opera. It's basically Chrome with a
slightly different feature set.

------
ticktockten
Just installed it! Visibly faster for me, they seem to have done good work in
this release.

------
Endy
Not bothering to read - is it still a reskin of Chrome and thus not Opera? Or
are they moving back to an updated Presto engine? Because if not, SeaMonkey
remains my primary browser; since Opera 12 is "unsafe".

~~~
Veratyr
How is Opera "unsafe" exactly? Are there any serious bugs or vulnerabilities?

~~~
Endy
I've been told that Opera 12 is unsafe now. I don't remember the details.

------
known
I'm happy with [http://www.seamonkey-project.org/](http://www.seamonkey-
project.org/)

------
chw9e
I can't find the VPN option in Settings, even when I search... but the help
page says it should be available under Privacy and Security..

~~~
babayega2
Edit>Preferences> Private&Security > VPN.

Don't you have those ?

~~~
chw9e
I'm on Mac, and no. All I have is a link to the VPN provider's website where I
can purchase their VPN. There is no option to turn it on in the browser, even
with 'Show Advanced Settings' selected.

~~~
chw9e
The VPN is blocked in China. To get around this you have to set your
computer's location to the US (or a country where the VPN is permitted), then
reboot Opera. The computer's location can be changed in the System Preferences
menu of a Mac.

------
ekvintroj
I really miss the tab stacking feature, but also the integrated email and rss
readers. :'(

------
krige
Is Opera still running webkit, or did they switch to something else in the
past few years?

~~~
batuhanicoz
As far as I know, they are using Blink (Google's WebKit fork), rather than
WebKit.

------
dingdingdang
Cold start Opera 40 - 63 seconds

Cold start Opera 41 - 8 seconds

Both values are so much slower than anything recent by Firefox or Chrome..?
Who waits over a minute for their browser to start?

~~~
m45t3r
If you swap the video, they're counting the time to cold startup to fully load
the page from your last session. And sure, I have dozens of tabs in Chrome,
and while Chrome itself starts fast, fully load a webpage can take a long
time.

------
a-no-n
I hate to sound mean, but Opera feels somewhere between the Moller Skycar and
a Dyson Hairdryer.

To be fair:

Chrome is fast and adopts tech fairly quickly but kills your battery and your
privacy.

Firefox is private and supports new things, but wastes your time.

Safari is battery-efficient, but waste your time and tech lags.

(IE is shit.)

\---

Conclusion: Pick your poison for the appropriate task and time.

~~~
jmkni
What about Edge?

~~~
digi_owl
Do anyone use Safari on Windows these days?

~~~
lostgame
It's no longer a thing. [1]

[1] [https://9to5mac.com/2012/07/25/apple-appears-to-currently-
be...](https://9to5mac.com/2012/07/25/apple-appears-to-currently-be-passing-
on-safari-6-0-features-for-windows-pcs/)

------
michaelmior
I think [0] is a more useful link

[0] [https://www.opera.com/blogs/desktop/2016/10/86-percent-
faste...](https://www.opera.com/blogs/desktop/2016/10/86-percent-faster-
opera-41-for-computers/)

~~~
IsmaOlvey
Looks like someone failed to change the link (it's now broken), and made the
title refer to the wrong blog post.

The original title referred to this one:
[https://www.opera.com/blogs/desktop/2016/10/86-percent-
faste...](https://www.opera.com/blogs/desktop/2016/10/86-percent-faster-
opera-41-for-computers/) not this one
[https://www.opera.com/blogs/desktop/2016/10/opera-
developer-...](https://www.opera.com/blogs/desktop/2016/10/opera-
developer-42-0-2392-0-update/).

------
jaspervdmeer
They finally got rid of the 1px space above tabs. They also logged me in on
Reddit instantly upon new install, which is, at least, kinda odd as I never
gave 'em permission to harvest my Firefox data.

So uninstalling.

~~~
jasonkostempski
Is it possible it remembered your login from the last time you tried Opera?

~~~
penetrarthur
Just let him uninstall it.

------
omarforgotpwd
62 seconds to start my browser if I had too many tabs opened before
previously? Why is that even saved between launches by default then? It takes
less than that amount of time to switch to chrome

~~~
pjc50
Browsers losing my tabs on shutdown is unusable for me, that's one of the
reasons I stopped trying to use Edge.

~~~
72deluxe
Yes same here. I normally leave my workstation running overnight so I can come
back to it in the morning but given Windows 10 and its propensity to restart
at 3am, losing all the open tabs is not an option. (And no, I can't reschedule
this as I am under a group policy at work so it is out of my hands).

So saving tab state is ideal. I too stopped attempting to use Edge. It weirdly
presents its own custom menu for right-clicks, which means there is one for
Edge, one for the Start menu, and then the normal native one. Seems Microsoft
likes making work for itself with 3 different menu implementations to
maintain.

------
asdfaoeu
86% faster when starting up with 42 tabs open. I'd guarantee 99% of those
people with 42 tabs open after startup immediately Close 41 of them.

~~~
pjc50
Other way round. When I'm starting up with dozens of tabs, many of them will
be left open but never touched. Sometimes tabs can be months old.

I'll occasionally do "cache spill to pinboard", but otherwise they remain open
until I get round to them again or I have a "tab bankruptcy" imposed by
software failure.

