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Opera Embraces Extensions For v.11
dkd903 writes "Opera is one of the most solid browsers around. It is very fast, extremely customizable, and has a lot of functionality that others do not have. Opera is also a very strong supporter of Web standards; it was one of the first browsers to pass the ACID 3 test. However, Opera has always been confined to a relatively small user-base because of one critical thing — lack of extensions. Well, that is about to change — at least the extensions part. Today, it has been announced that Opera 11 will support extensions."
Wish I could Mod Op..
- Dan.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
It's about time! I'm now excited about Opera again.
End result:
Hell... It's about time!
Argh, and of course I mistype a word while railing against a lack of proofreading. Go figure...
I am also a very supporter of web standards. I think....
In other news, I don't think this will make Opera a "serious competitor" for Firefox/Chrome/etc, if for no other reason than most people haven't heard of it before. They'll continue to use what they've heard of and are familiar with. I do like Opera, though, they've made a lot of good changes over the years.
Because, out of everything, the only thing has ever held Opera back is the lack of extensions. Yep. Definitely. Nothing about having a weird interface, or having preferences in unusual locations. Just the lack of extensions.
Sure.
GPL made simple: What was my stuff is now our stuff. If you improve our stuff, please keep it our stuff.
I'd prefer the best browser to maintain its current level of anonymity and leave the IE and Firefox user as cherries to be plucked.
Here's hoping. Some ad-heavy sites are almost unusable in Opera now, because of the sheer number of autoplaying Flash videos. Not mentioning any names...
You're an immobile computer, remember?
Someone write a "FirefoxTab" extension. Who else would like their Opera to leak memory?
This makes things interesting, I wonder though if it is not too late. As a developer looking for maximum exposure, developing for one of the other browsers with a bigger market share makes more sense.
Now if you left it alone everyone would have thought you were making a point. :)
- Dan.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
Um, I'm willing to bet that there are plenty of other reasons Opera has a small user base other than the lack of plug-ins...*
*(not that any of them is necessarily rational or deserved, mind you)
If Opera has a 'problem' it's that it's most well-known as software one needs to buy versus Firefox and IE being included in the purchase of a Windows product.
They must be given a huge amount of respect for staying relevant and commercially viable versus costless competitors.
I'm glad they are doing extensions. While I live underneath a rainbow with unicorns and fairies, I'd suggest making Firefox extensions portable to Opera.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
I've never understood that. "Why not use this browser that does everything you say you want?" "Because it doesn't have EXTENSIONS!"
I don't get it. I suppose this is nice if it gets people to use Opera, but honestly... if that's your excuse, there's probably a better reason you're using something else.
Muphry's Law strikes again!
I have been using Opera for quite some time, and the speed and feature set is very good. What I do wish for, more than extensions, is to have each tab have it's own thread in a similar fashion as Chrome. I have experienced some crashes on my Mac because of plugins, and it would be good to only have one tab crash, not the whole browser.
Dvorak on Doomtech
Once again we see that we have very editors here at /.
I used Opera for about 7-8 years and loved it, and I still do, but I recently had to switch to Firefox because the security vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Flash Player plugins were just too great of a risk and I need the blocking plugins that Firefox has. Although I was able to replicate a lot of my Opera experience in Firefox through plugins, like speed dial, a plugin that emulates the search strings functionality, mouse gestures, etc., the startup times, load times, and UI in Firefox are way slower than what I knew and loved in Opera. I hope noscript, adblock and flashblock-esque plugins make to Opera very quickly so I can finally go back.
I'll consider switching to another browser when Zotero is ported.
I use Opera on both my desktop and laptop and I honestly don't understand what the heck people have against using Opera as their browser. It's super fast and lightweight, the built-in RSS feeder is the best I've seen anywhere, and it works on 99.9% of the websites (the only issues I've had is when Adobe releases a particularly buggy version of Flash). And although I will get strung up for this, I LIKE Opera's Unite feature. It makes file sharing super easy when I need to set up something quick and easy for sharing photos with family or friends.
Frankly, the stock Opera gives me everything I need in a browser. Why do I need extensions again?
I call it 'The Aristocrats'
Isn't bundled with the OS is probably the biggest factor, followed by lack of name recognition. Lack of extensions is probably down near not-open-source as far as most people are concerned. Anyway, can-run-extensions isn't going to help until extensions appear, unless it can run Firefox extensions. That said, I think it's a great move on their part, and it certainly makes me more interested. But I'm a nerd. :)
If only,
... opera had embraced a free model earlier
... had the backing of a massive corporation to have it pre-installed
... or had inherited a large core of users and developers
... or had the appeal of being open source
I have been an opera user / fan for a while, and wish more people use it. But blaming the low adoption on extensions is insane.
Opera 10 has been very disappointing in terms of quality control and I wish the team focused more on making it crash -proof and fixed all the non-working features (such as voice) instead of adding more and more functionality.
Opposite experience here. Windows 7, my firefox is crashing wheras opera isn't.
They sure weren't the first ones to support rounded corners and drop shadows. It may seem silly to complain about such things but the more browsers support visually appealing CSS, the less hacks will need to be done for simple visual effects.
I've been using Opera since 2002, never payed a cent. Yes, at first it has an ad on top of the window, but it was usable and good. The ad was removed in version 8.5, 5 years ago.
You shoulda said nothing...I would've modded you +1 funny
Opera's interface is a total fucking nightmare, and always has been. Obviously it appeals to some people, but those people are a minority. And insane.
I swear, Opera's interface reminds me of a bad KDE application, with its enormous collection of settings and buttons, and default settings that almost EVERYONE hates.
I, for one, am glad Opera is a very supporter. Just being a supporter won't do!
Our main weakness is that we don't support extensions, and that we are not free software, ...
Our two main weaknesses are that we don't support extensions, and that we are not free software, thus preventing inclusion in purely free-software systems and smooth integration in distributions. That, and the fact that few people know us.
Our THREE main weaknesses are ... hmm, I'll come in again.
I've found Opera a fantastic browser from the first time I used it, because of its great support for web standards. I used it to test all my web sites. However, I eventually left Opera for a lot of small reasons: no Linux support, then crashes on Linux that wouldn't really go away. Nagging, then ads. And finally, open source browsers became so good that Opera wasn't worth the hassle anymore.
Still, Opera does a great job and is right at the front of innovation. It's also fairly popular in east Europe. Good job, keep it up!
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Extensions only matter if we're talking about porting over NoScript.
I recently made an honest effort to try out the latest stable release of Opera. I was pleased to note that it had a lot of the features baked-in that I was adding to Chrome and Firefox. It was fast and seemed to do a good job as a web browser. However, the first time I visited some forums looking for solutions to a random problem, I was sorely disappointed with the lack of Noscript. Sure, the message boards usually say "Sure you can disable Javascript, do 'this' from the menu", but that isn't the kind of granularity that NoScript offers. Then, there's a substitute called "Blockit", which is apparently supposed to act like Noscript. However, the configuration screen is painful and the addon appeared to be broken; it didn't appear to give me a NoScript-like button to control each page. The plethora of annoying bits on the sites I visited researching how to get a working Noscript substitute in Opera encouraged me to drop Opera. What irony.
I've been spoiled by NoScript. I'm not particularly a Firefox fanboy--it has its own share of problems and issues--but it does run NoScript and I can't stand browsing the web without it.
Opera hasn't had ads for nearly half a decade now. Where are you?
I don't get Fanboyism either, which are mostly on mass consumer products and even more baffling, on free, open source software. Even the most low spec netbook can run 2 or more browsers. Why not have them all, especially if they are free? Why limit yourself to one particular browser, as if by doing so, you earn karma, expiate your sins, restore balance to the Force and prevent the sky from falling down. And why the vitriol on people who have a different browser/game console/airline/computer manufacturer/OS/processor/ad nauseum preferences? I have said before when iPad just came out. We as consumers owe nothing to manufacturers, rather they owe everything to us. If you like their products, good for you and good for them. If you don't like it, try something else and move on.
I never switched to Firefox because without extensions, it does too little, and with extensions, firefox is a mess of incompatibilities, leaks, and security concerns. I *like* that Opera does almost everything I need (bookmark synch, mouse gestures, adblocking...) right out of the box, with no flaky extensions.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
Opinions differ, but the main arguments you see here today are "Opera doesnt have NoScript" and "Opera has a weird interface"
.. The UserJS BlockIt certainly isn't as polished as NoScript, but it does have an extensive feature set (even blocking images and so forth, with per-element whitelists .. the whole 9 yards..) Personally I dont have a desire to be sp paranoid that I need that granularity .. I have JavaScript and plugins disabled by default and whitelist an entire site for JavaScript when I need it (either I trust the site, or I don't.. I'm not going to actually look at the scripts), and run plugins only on-demand.
The later one is asinine since its also one of the most configurable browser in regards to the interface. You can move buttons and menus pretty much anywhere, and so forth.
The former one.. well.. there are multiple Opera alternatives to NoScript, some built in and some in the form of UserJS
"His name was James Damore."
I'm using Opera as I write but unfortunately I'm stuck with v10.10. Opera has this habit of breaking stuff that used to work well when new versions are released. My current gripe is streaming/motion video from various types of webcams like the Panasonic network cams and pc cams streaming using Webcam32 (and some cam other software too). I have a bunch of these that monitor remote sites, watch spectrum analyzers that monitor satellite uplink gear, etc. If I upgrade to the latest Opera version it breaks the ability to view all of my cameras. I have filed bug reports and made Opera blog posts regarding the issue all to no avail. So, I keep using the last version known to work and hope for the best in future versions. Sure, I could use Firefox but I really do prefer Opera and there is a lot about Firefox that I do not like.
How long ago was that again? I'm using Debian for the last 2 releases and this wasn't an issue for me.
Quick way to get 30% Funny 70% Troll: defend Opera browser on
Opera is QT by the way.
How wonderfully...short-sighted.
.there is enough of everything for everyone.
First browser to give me Tamper Data and Web Developer Toolkit extensions gains a big fan. Sick and tired of 400 meg RAM use from a browser. I'm looking at you, Firefox. O'course, sods law would be that somehow my extensions cause the FF memory leak. :o/
Lack of extensions is not a "critical bug." Being unusable for several major webmail clients for many years is, because there's no excuse --chrome, firefox and safari have not affected in years.
Before Opera dares allowing extensions to "standard" web content, they must make sure this "standard" is usable.
Firefox is the most compatible of my mother's 4 alternative browsers, but she hates its slowness on this single core pc. I can't recommend Opera to people like her because hotmail and yahoo are both broken.
I've not tried it again
I still don't see a compelling reason to switch
Yeah, and you if anyone should had known the reasons if there was any!
In my experience everything which crashes if Flash fucks up crashes. All the time.
I don't understand you basis of comment in the least unless you're being a dick and trolling.
So your saying any user experience is invalid unless its YOUR user experience?
What are the reasons to switch to Opera? Just because I don't see a reason doesn't mean there are not. I never asserted I was representing every user; which your comment seems to imply you believe you are.
So rather than troll and troll moderation, why should people switch when firefox is plenty good for loads of people?
At least I was honest about my view - which is seemingly more than you've been - unless I've completely misinterpreted your post. If so, clarify.
I don't trust Doubleclick ever, regardless of what else I allow. Just the minimum, thanks.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
.
However, Opera has always been confined to a relatively small user-base because of one critical thing -- lack of extensions.
The reason Opera has never built up a large userbase is that it did not work on many sites that were important to perspective users. The Opera javascript engine, while fast, does not work with a lot of websites.
Unix versions used to be, but not any more (since version 10.50).
Opera 10.70 is abysmal regarding HTML 5, let alone the parsing algorithm is no where near the level of WebKit.
I want to choose an adjective!
"Opera is a very athletic supporter of Web standards..."
This post will be either +4, Funny or -1, Troll. Either way, I'm happy with my pun. :)
Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
I don't understand you basis of comment in the least unless you're being a dick and trolling.
It's quite simple actually: ...
If you have used it once and then never used it again you probably don't know much about it
So your saying any user experience is invalid unless its YOUR user experience?
No. But actually having experience, and recent such, does make a difference.
What are the reasons to switch to Opera? Just because I don't see a reason doesn't mean there are not. I never asserted I was representing every user; which your comment seems to imply you believe you are.
I never stated my opinion at all. All I said was that yours probably doesn't matter much since you're not even an Opera user. But thanks for giving it anyway.
So rather than troll and troll moderation, why should people switch when firefox is plenty good for loads of people?
Why should they switch to Firefox when ... is good for loads of people?
I don't say people should do anything at all.
If so, clarify.
I used Opera around the same time as Mozilla 0.7 when no browser was really good.
Switched from Firefox 1.0.7 to Opera 8.52 when Firefox had huge memory leaks.
Have used very shitty Safari 2 for long.
Safari 3 wasn't good either if 5 is the current version. 4 worked.
I haven't used Firefox 4 since it doesn't run on my OS, Firefox 3 is decent, Opera is decent, Chrome is probably decent to, heck even IE 9 is supposed to be decent and I assume Safari 5 work to.
I doubt any of them really suck. Judging from history I would probably had chosen Opera or Chrome. But there is plenty of good browsers around and standard support seem to be a more and more important point for the developers of all of them.
Greetings and Salutations...
I would not say "TOO unstabile", but, I have switched over to firefox after using opera for years specifically because of the memory leak issue. I have a fairly vanilla OpenSuSE 11.3 installation, and, have been running OpenSuSE for quite some time. On EVERY version of the OS and Opera, over a period of time (say, several hours of browsing), the memory used by Opera will go from a fairly reasonable amount to 90% or more of total system memory. When it gets up above 80%, it starts dragging quite a bit, and, with time will suck so many resources that it will bring the system to a screeching halt. If I am lucky, I can force a close. Most of the time, I have to power down the machine, and bring it back up.
I REALLY like Opera's look and feel, but, that memory leak and dragging the system down has become so annoying that it is no longer possible for me to stick with it.
It is a real shame, too.
regards
dave mundt
YAB - http://blog.beemandave.com/
140 million, and counding... Small?
Clever signature text goes here.
What makes you say that? Opera is among the top browser in regards to HTML5.
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Opera has more than 140 million users. Sounds pretty popular to me. Its market share is something like 30% in countries like Russia, Ukraine, etc.
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Does it have an ad blocker that doesn't suck big time like the one they used to have? If yes, I might consider it. Otherwise thanks but not interested. Please focus on what customers want rather than claim that your small market share is all due to Microsoft practices.
Also, the mobile Opera is free.
Clever signature text goes here.
I love such vague statements...
I hear people say that Opera/Firefox/Windows XP crashes all the time, and I wonder what they're doing with their systems.
I use Windows XP and Firefox daily, and they hardly ever crash. Same for Opery (which I'm not using quite that much, but still regularly).
I believe stories about software that crashes "all the time" tells more about the people who tell them and the way they are using (abusing?) their systems than about the software.
It is not the lack of extensions that stops people from using Opera. It's that they bundle features that should be extensions right into the core.
I don't trust Doubleclick ever, regardless of what else I allow.
Relying on NoScript to avoid connecting to DoubleClick doesnt seem like a foolproof method. Wouldnt it be superior to banish DoubleClick forever with your hosts file, or firewall, or any of the other ways that actually prevent all communication with DoubleClick? NoScript doesnt prevent communications with DoubleClick.. it just prevents scripts from being run, which doesnt seem to be your actual intention.
"His name was James Damore."
Opera is the #1 mobile web browser worldwide, by website stats (and that despite many of its users certainly being cautious with the number os sites visited, without the luxury of cheap data transfers)
One that hath name thou can not otter
If you have used it once and then never used it again you probably don't know much about it ...
Which my comment made clear. So in stead of posting a sane, reasoned comment, you trolled and some other idiot moderator, troll moderated. Regardless, none of that invalidates my comments. The comments were reasonable and far from inflammatory.
The fact that you posted as you did and idiot troll moderators posted as they did seems to validate no one is missing anything with Opera as the user group is simply so ashamed of it they can't sanely discuss it. Furthermore, it attempt to invalidate absolutely valid point of view simply because your own shame is trollish in of itself. ...and if you're not ashamed, then why troll on an absolutely reasonable comment? Exactly.
Ok, now I've got one _HUGE_ issue with Firefox for you to digest.
I run the latest Firefox 3.x in OS X 10.4.6.
When under load thanks to multiple tabs (I uninstalled Flash so that's not it, but I guess all the javascriptcrap is enough to fuck it up) it simply drops lots of keyboard (and mouse?) input.
I may start to write a mail to someone, click the subject field, write some, change to the actual message, write a lot more, and the browser lags and nothing happens. Then after a while it fills in with a few of the last keys and that's it. How the fuck is that even possible? But sure as hell it happens the whole freaking time.
Often I also lick send / post when I'm done and it doesn't notice that either.
Pure shit. It ignores some script/action and that includes the UI to or what? ... like now, I clicked Preview, nothing happened. Great! But much worse than you've typed four sentences and only get a half one back and then have to try to remind what you had typed and rewrite it, the whole fucking time.