
Opera is really nice. - orf
http://tomforb.es/opera-is-really-nice
======
dao-
Opera doesn't just use Blink, it is based on Chromium. If you have performance
issues with Chrome, Opera likely isn't the solution you're looking for.
Chances are tomforb.es felt it was faster because it had a new, fresh user
profile without history and other cruft. Or it was just the placebo effect.

~~~
orf
I mainly had performance issues with Firefox, to be honest I don't think
Chrome was that bad (a bit sluggish sometimes perhaps). Even if it is the
placebo effect it doesn't matter, I'm happy feeling like its faster.

~~~
ajarmoniuk
And what was the version of Firefox you had these problems with? They made
their browser much leaner and faster. It consumes far less memory than Chrome
on my machine.

------
Aoyagi
I'm sorry, what? I'd say it's the opposite, Opera is _not_ nice anymore. Mouse
gestures, mail and IRC client, huge options, its own engine, Dragonfly, tab
stacking, Linux client... things why I still use Opera 12. That blog post is
so uninformed and biased it sickens me.

(sorry about the rage mode, but seeing this at the top of HN really makes me
furious knowing how dumbed down even Opera 20 is compared to 12 or 11)

~~~
AjithAntony
FWIW, Mouse gestures still work in the new Opera.

My biggest gripe is that I used to love how opera could actually navigate its
history very quickly. Forward and back are slow now like chrome.

~~~
Aoyagi
Mouse gestures in Chropera work only partially. In fact, all I managed to get
working is back, new tab and close tab. And yeah, "caching" (or whatever they
call it) visited sites (even closed tabs) is a very handy thing.

------
snird
Since they switched to be chromium-based they stopped publishing for linux. is
there someone who knows why? I can't see any technical problem stopping them..

~~~
jalan
Here is the link for linux version:
[http://www.opera.com/computer/linux](http://www.opera.com/computer/linux)

~~~
616c
There is someone who cryptically mentioned, I think on the thread about
measuring a startup's product viability by whether or not employees
voluntarily used said product, being a developer for Opera and his management
team alienated a lot of developers by blowing off Linux and denigrating
interest in it as a platform with supporting and the general low blow jokes.

I am too lazy to search. Maybe you or someone else will point you in the right
direction.

------
shimonamit
So far Mobile Opera is the only browser to support:

* Readable text size after double-tap-to-zoom

* Text reflow

I still can't find a browser that remembers my zoom level per site.

~~~
DougBTX
Chrome remembers zoom level per site.

~~~
shimonamit
Not Mobile Chrome.

------
JetSpiegel
Without the layout engine, what can they offer that Chromium doesn't?

~~~
kristopolous
Try it out. it has a nice feature-set that is mostly on par with the other
browsers. here's a glory screen shot I just took:
[http://i.imgur.com/NpzUWWB.png](http://i.imgur.com/NpzUWWB.png) (I'm ok with
people knowing my home directory path)

In the mobile world they offer access to their compressing proxy built-in,
similar to
[http://www.khelekore.org/rabbit/](http://www.khelekore.org/rabbit/) so that
you can save your OTA bits. I haven't found any other mobile browser that
allows you to push your web connection through a proxy like that.

~~~
gilrain
Chrome for Android and iOS optionally does this, now. [1]

[1] [https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/data-
compre...](https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/data-compression)

~~~
mathias
Note that Opera’s “Off-Road mode” in present in Opera for Desktop as well, so
it’s not a mobile-only feature. Here’s a screenshot that shows how to enable
it: [http://i.imgur.com/rvGkQrI.png](http://i.imgur.com/rvGkQrI.png)

------
userulluipeste
I'm an average-Joe in browsing matters and well, it did a good first
impression on me in regard to browsing itself, but then I got frustrated with
the default options stuck on me. For instance the theming - is it supposed to
change only the background of the browser's internal pages? That's something
one barely encounters. I couldn't change the color of the window itself which
is actually something I'll have permanently before my eyes, save the full-
screen browsing! ...and as more I come to use it, the more that default
intense blue color grew on bothering me. I've tried to look for ways to solve
it several times, and each time giving up in frustration - it's not only only
the inability to change a default skin, it doesn't actually leave you much
control over almost anything. The browser isn't just brought up with a design
that removes the interface clout leaving it buried somewhere on a deeper
reach, it removes it outright leaving you bare-bones!

Maybe there are solutions that would solve my needs, but those weren't to be
found easily when I still had patience.

------
sergiotapia
I miss Dragonfly so much. It felt leagues beyond anything Chrome and Firefox
had.

~~~
mcovey
Dragonfly was/is by far the best debugger of any browser. I still use Opera 12
so I still use it, but for how much longer remains to be seen... I don't have
high hopes for the new Opera being supported on Linux and even if it is,
dragonfly is gone.

------
jagermo
I like Opera a lot, especially on the road with crappy internet connections.
You are right, I should switch on the desktop, too.

------
higherpurpose
Especially since they're from Europe, if I were them I'd probably focus on
anti-tracking and privacy, much like what Epic Browser [1] is trying to do.
But I think Opera would have the brand name recognition (and better technical
expertise, too) to pull it off. Become THE privacy browser.

Later on, start to support next-gen stuff like Namecoin for P2P DNS, Ethereum,
and other stuff like that. At their 1 percent market share or whatever they
have now on the desktop, what do they have to lose? I only see upside, because
there's a strong and growing community that would support and spread the word
about such a browser, if it was really that good for privacy and so forward-
looking towards a much more secure and privacy-friendly Internet.

[1] [https://www.epicbrowser.com/](https://www.epicbrowser.com/)

------
neals
I am amazed at how fast opera has changed. I used to have installed, but
haven't gotten around to in a year. It has changed from this rebellious "doing
it their own way" kind of browser to "chrome with a different interface".

Which I understand, the browser business must be pretty harsh when you're one
of the few players that actually needs the revenue.

------
teekert
I like it too but I just couldn't get used to the fact that the top pixel line
is not part of a tab I keep clicking above the tabs, it annoyed me back to
Firefox.
([http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=1418282](http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=1418282))

------
brainburn
Opera WAS very nice. Fast, great keyboard navigation, native mouse gestures,
native tabs on the left instead of above.

But sometimes it would just hang, some sites would not show properly.

I kept it around for way too long. Now I use firefox with a tab addon and
curse its sluggishness..

There just don't seem to be any browsers that don't suck in some way.

------
justavideo
My opinion about Opera was always sort of ambivalent.

The sad thing though is, now its nothing more than yet another Webkit (or even
Chrome) shell

[http://www.binarypassion.net/2013/05/a-farewell-to-
opera.htm...](http://www.binarypassion.net/2013/05/a-farewell-to-opera.html)

------
ZeWaren
Until I can put my tabs on the left of the window with the new releases, I'm
staying with Opera 12.16.

~~~
rplnt
I'm still using Opera 11.xx. Just at work I have Opera 12.xx. That browser
line was effectively killed and there is nothing even remotely comparable. I
tried to switch to both Chrome and FF several times, but it didn't went well.
Now I use multiple browsers. One for normal web and one for stuff like gmail
(that has trouble running in the old Opera).

~~~
mcovey
Gmail's HTML-only mode works fine in Opera 12, and unless you really like the
(imho slow and bloated) interface of regular gmail, it is _better_. The only
issues I had were bulk deleting spam and trash, it took me only a 5 line
userscript to add a "select-all" button and the problem is solved. Also worth
mentioning that this interface isn't exactly html-only, it still has some
assisting javascript like automatically completing typed addresses from your
contacts.

------
koobarbara
I have Opera installed on my Nexus 10 tab. Performs so much better than
Firefox/Chrome - it doesn't get stuck whenever loading a website.

Also used to use it on Windows. But now I've moved on to Ubuntu it kind of
sucks - fonts for Opera sucks so much.

------
ljoshua
I used to be an Opera die-hard fan--mouse gestures, built-in email and RSS
client, tabs much more functional than any other browser, and very fast. It's
had a long and circuitous journey, and much has changed, but the more choice
the better.

------
dec0dedab0de
Does anyone know if the new version of chrome can download bittorrents? I
don't have any windows/mac computers to try it out at the moment.

------
samsquire
I used to be able to run 300 tabs (of websites some years ago) at once without
lag in Opera 11. It is the most efficient browser I've used.

On an AMD Turion.

------
mkesper
I'll never use a non-free browser except when forced to.

~~~
mathias
What is your definition of ‘non-free browser’?

~~~
mkesper
A browser denying one or more of the basic software freedoms: use, study,
share, improve.

[http://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.html](http://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.html)

------
Pengfei_Xue
502 Bad Gateway here。。。

------
keehun
Surprisingly nice.

