Why Opera? A Look At One Of The Many Browsers

Over the years, I have tried most browsers out for a little, and I’ve seen how they’ve evolved. I’ve never been a massive fan of Internet Explorer, but sometimes I have to use it. I have to admit, the newest version of Internet Explorer did please me. I am far from a browser analyst, but I will talk a little about one of the many browsers that I don’t hate - Opera.Opera does not get a lot of attention, and I am thinking it is because the application has to pick itself up from a horrible reputation. It is all about FireFox these days. I was once a Firefox user. Firefox is a great browser, and for a long time I was happy that I had found browsing perfection. You know the application called “Stumble” for FireFox? Well, I was using that and stumbled upon the Opera website. I looked at all the features and it sounded like a neat browser. I never heard of it until then, so I thought I’d try it out.

One of the features that persuaded me to download Opera was Bit Torrent support. Bit Torrent is a form of file sharing that has been growing in popularity lately. I don’t like most of the clients out there, so an alternative sounded attractive. I downloaded, and it was love at first site. This browser has great features and a nice simple user interface.

Moving over was painless - there is a function to import all your old email and favorites, so you don’t loose anything. Opera allows you to insert personal details so forms can be filled in very quickly and easily. The way Opera handles contacts and email is nice. It took me a little tweaking to get all my email filtered into folders, but no more than it would with any other email client. You can search your email quickly and easily by drop down options: “view only email from senders of a certain domain”, or a subject that contains “these words,”etc. Newsgroups and RSS Feeds are viewable in the ‘Mail’ pane also, and the newsreader offers all the important features such as threaded discussions.

My favorite Opera feature is called “Mouse Gestures.” Once this feature is turned on, you can simply move your mouse to perform tasks that would otherwise require placing your mouse on a specific icon or menu choice. It works like this. Hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse to the left to go to a previous page. Hold the right mouse button and move the mouse to the right to go to the next page. There are mouse gestures for many frequently performed operations, and once you learn just a few them you can dramatically speed up your Web browsing. Opera also supports the “magic wand” which will remember your user-id and password and auto log you in with the click of a button.

Internet Explorer is the most popular Internet browser in the world. Yet, it is laden with security flaws and is the target of all sorts of evildoers. So whether you are trying to escape the insecurities of Internet Explorer or looking for a better Web browser, give Opera a try. There is a lot to like.

Opera is Free and can be found here.