Opera now free for all

[Ian Petersen]

Look ma! No banners (http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2005/09/20/).

[donmcc]

It will be interesting to watch the browser figures change over the next few months. Will Opera cut into Explorer, or Mozilla.

Don McCahill

[Michael Rowley]

Ian:

Papa, using IE, sees no banners, but nothing else either.

[Andrew B.]

Funny thing. At work I run Opera with ads, and I like them. They take up almost no room, and I've learned about some interesting products. But I'm sure I'll manage without them.

BTW, have you been using 8.x, and do you experience it as any better than 7.x. I'm so annoyed with what they did to CTRL-T that I'm still using 7.x at home.

Added Note: Since posting I learned that CTRL-T has been replaced with CTRL-SHFT-T. So I guess that solves it, especially in light of Opera's ability to remap keyboard shortcuts. So the new Opera is on my to-do list.

[Ian Petersen]

No, the ads were never very annoying in Opera, but still it's nice to be rid of them.

As to v. 8, yes I'm using it and like it. Couldn't say whether it's 'better'. Most of the new features were to do with voice browsing I think. Remind me what Ctrl-T used to do that it doesn't now! In any case keyboard shortcuts are configurable ...

[Ian Petersen]

Much as I'd like it to, I doubt Opera being ad-free will make a huge difference to the browser figures. Maybe a percent or two. But IE7 is supposedly just round the corner. How good or bad that proves to be will affect all the other browsers.

[Richard Waller]

I am mentally conditioned to blank out the ads, on the roadside, in supermarkets, as well as on websites. But if they are excessively flashing I surf to another website on my list.

[Andrew B.]

Ctrl-T used to pop up the Add Bookmark dialog, with it defaulting to the most recently selected bookmark folder. Now it defaults to the base folder, and then after that, the most recent one. But I just found the old behavior under Ctrl-Shft-T. And I put it back under Ctrl-T. So now I'm all set.

[Ian Petersen]

Ctrl-T used to pop up the Add Bookmark dialogAh, right. I usually drag 'n' drop. I know Opera is one of the few apps that can be completely keyboard driven but I'm an inveterate mouser ...

[Andrew B.]

Ah, right. I usually drag 'n' drop. I know Opera is one of the few apps that can be completely keyboard driven but I'm an inveterate mouser ...Well, I discovered some more tonight. Shift-Click opens a link in a new page. Ctrl-Shift-Click opens a link in a background page. This also works with the context menu that pops up when you double-click on a word in a Web page. Except you are clicking on a menu choice along with the key(s) I mentioned.

Anyway, remembering back to Opera 6 (my first version), it took reading a pretty good "tips" page to make me realize how much power is there. So I went out looking again. I found this Wiki (http://nontroppo.org/wiki/Opera) very helpful. I especially liked the Visual Tutorials page (http://nontroppo.org/wiki/VisualTutorials)

[Ian Petersen]

Shift-Click opens a link in a new page. Ctrl-Shift-Click opens a link in a background page.Yes, that's one of the few I do know and use. They sort of work in Firefox too.

Once upon a time I used Opera's skinning feature (which I don't normally use) to save a large GIF showing all of Opera's keyboard shortcuts as the app's desktop background. It didn't really help, though. I always forgot to look at it!

[Andrew B.]

Once upon a time I used Opera's skinning feature (which I don't normally use) to save a large GIF showing all of Opera's keyboard shortcuts as the app's desktop background. It didn't really help, though. I always forgot to look at it!I once downloaded and installed a ready-made skin like this. Like you, I never bothered looking at it.

BTW, I decided to try out a couple of user-made features. Very easy to install. Just drag the buttons from the Web page where they are posted, right into my Opera menu. One I tried is a kill feature, that allows me to click on Web page elements to turn them off. In my test I was able to turn off a DHTML element that floated down onto a Web page.

[George]

Does anyone know, are there any security issues with Opera???

I've been using it since yesterday, and Gee, it's a lot nicer than I remember. The page layouts are very different and much nicer. The fonts are enhanced and spaced better, and it is faster. But, I don't want to assume any security risks.

Regards,

George

However, to use Opera with this forum, one has to remember where he/she put his/her password, which I did for once.

[Ian Petersen]

are there any security issues with Opera?Opera has always been one of the most secure browsers to use. As far as I remember they had strong encryption long before IE or Mozilla, for example. See here (http://www.opera.com/security/).

[George]

Opera has always been one of the most secure browsers to use. As far as I remember they had strong encryption long before IE or Mozilla, for example. See here (http://www.opera.com/security/).

Thank you. This is a very interesting site you cited. I did a little checking on Google. From what I could gather, independent sources indicate a high security rating, and while there were some security holes developing in the past, they were fixed very quickly. I was expecting decent security, as the browser isn't used enough to warrant investing a lot of time to get through it. However, it's probably something we should keep checking on for the future. The more I use the browser, the more I like it--so, I'm going to make the switch.

Regards,

George

[JVegVT]

BTW, have you been using 8.x, and do you experience it as any better than 7.x.
I couldn't live without it! I'm particularly fond of Fit to Window Width, which is accessible with a click on the eyeglasses next to the Google Search box. No more horizontal scrolling. Switching between Author Mode and User Mode with a click is also handy if you get to a Web site that has a distracting background.

And mouse gestures. Must have those. You need an extension for them in Firefox and I've never gotten that extension to work in Linux.
--Judy M.

[Andrew B.]

I'm particularly fond of Fit to Window Width, which is accessible with a click on the eyeglasses next to the Google Search box. No more horizontal scrolling.I was looking at that yesterday. Pretty clever the way it works. Another new feature I'm starting to warm up to is the little "x" icon for closing tabs.

[ElyseC]

I was looking at that yesterday. Pretty clever the way it works. Another new feature I'm starting to warm up to is the little "x" icon for closing tabs.That's a new feature in the Windows world? I've had that in Safari and FireFox ever since I've first used them (granted, that's just in the last year, but still I thought it was common in tabbed browsers).

[Andrew B.]

That's a new feature in the Windows world? I've had that in Safari and FireFox ever since I've first used them (granted, that's just in the last year, but still I thought it was common in tabbed browsers).

I think this feature showed up in Opera Windows about 6 months ago. But Firefox Windows doesn't have it.

[Ian Petersen]

Another new feature I'm starting to warm up to is the little "x" icon for closing tabsLuckily, they can be turned off. <g>

What do you like about them? I find they take up far too much room.

[Andrew B.]

I like being able to quickly close tabs. What I don't like is the choice of color. I think the active tab's button should be green, and the inactive button should be gray.

[Ian Petersen]

I'm rarely in such a hurry that I can't live with a right-click > close window. However, I usually have at least half a dozen pages open at a time and those close buttons really make a difference as to how much of the titles are shown. There's not much point in being able to quickly close a window if you can't actually identify which window to close! <g>

[Kelvyn]

That's a new feature in the Windows world? I've had that in Safari and FireFox ever since I've first used them (granted, that's just in the last year, but still I thought it was common in tabbed browsers).

In Opera the X is on each tab, so that a tabbed window does not need to be open in order to close it down with a single mouseclick. In Firefox the X is only visble when a tabbed window is open.

I still prefer Firefox.

[ktinkel]

I still prefer Firefox [to Opera].Me too, despite the fact that a bug (#56488) that breaks the vertical scrollbar in the Mac versions has not been fixed for two years.

If you or anyone else wants to be helpful, you — even those unaffected <g> — should go to Bugzilla and vote for this bug (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56488), which causes enormous amounts of extra effort for some Mac users. I am about to give up on Firefox altogether because of it.

[Ian Petersen]

In Opera the X is on each tabOptionally. Before version 8 it only had the one X - like Firefox - and can still be configured to behave like that. I prefer the single X too, but not Firefox. <g>

[Ian Petersen]

a bug (#56488) that breaks the vertical scrollbarFunny, I can't say I've noticed anything untoward about the scrollbar in Mac Firefox, and I use it virtually every day. What's wrong with it? The only oddity I've noticed is that it occasionally refuses to accept any text entry in the address bar or form fields.

[ktinkel]

Funny, I can't say I've noticed anything untoward about the scrollbar in Mac Firefox, and I use it virtually every day. What's wrong with it?You may be using a narrow window (or this may affect only some users).

On my setup, I only get the two-way arrows at the bottom of the vertical scroll bar if there is reason for the browser to produce a horizontal scrollbar. If you widen your window, do you see both up and down arrowheads at the bottom of the right-hand scroll? Or only one, pointing up? I need both.

I will attach a couple of screen shots of the bottom corner of this page to show you what I mean.

[ElyseC]

Without the little Xs, what are your options for closing just a single tab? Something in the menu? Hm, maybe I should look in my menus for that option...yes, now I see both FireFox and Safari offer a File menu item and keyboard command [Cmd W] for closing a single tab. Obviously I've never used them; I've just been clicking the x.

[dthomsen8]

I am using an old free version of Opera, but maybe I should consider having the current paid version. Silly me, I did not immediately get the free ad-free version when it was first mentioned here.

[Kelvyn]

David, you do not need to pay or put up with ads any more. Just go to http://www.opera.com/download/ and get version 8.5 - yes, it is free.

[Ian Petersen]

I'll try and remember to take a look. I'm on the PC right now. I certainly haven't consciously noticed that behaviour. I don't think I use the arrow thingies all that much, at least not in a browser. I usually grab the jelly-baby thing or click on the 'shaft'.

[Andrew B.]

Without the little Xs, what are your options for closing just a single tab? Something in the menu? Hm, maybe I should look in my menus for that option...yes, now I see both FireFox and Safari offer a File menu item and keyboard command [Cmd W] for closing a single tab. Obviously I've never used them; I've just been clicking the x.Except the menu and keystrokes only work on the tab that is the focus. The x works on any tab. And in Opera Windows, so does right-clicking on any tab, and then selecting the choice to close the tab. But oddly, right-click in Firefox doesn't work this well. It selects the focus tab, even if I right click on the a tab that is not the focus. One more reason why Firefox is not my primary browser.

[Kelvyn]

But oddly, right-click in Firefox doesn't work this well. It selects the focus tab, even if I right click on the a tab that is not the focus. One more reason why Firefox is not my primary browser.

That has been fixed. The RMB function now does not change focus and does give the option to close. I find that I use the the "reload all tabs" on the RMB menu quite a lot, as it enables quick update of all the forums I have open.