Opera - Best Web Browser of 2004 (PC World Magazine)

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Opera - Best Web Browser of 2004 (PC World Magazine)

Postby Edward » Sun 06 Jun, 2004 3:07 pm

Opera has been selected as the Best Web Browser for 2004, by PC World Magazine.

Opera's press release is here, and the PC World article is here. Opera is mentioned on Page 4 of the article.
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Re: Opera - Best Web Browser of 2004 (PC World Magazine)

Postby DJGM » Sun 06 Jun, 2004 3:47 pm

Edward wrote:Opera has been selected as the Best Web Browser for 2004, by PC World Magazine.


That's until Mozilla release Firefox 1.0 . . . then there'll be absolutely no competition!
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Postby Edward » Sun 06 Jun, 2004 4:10 pm

Yup...

And...the last time I had a look at Firefox, it still had the old Phoenix throbber in it. :P
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Postby Jeffredo » Tue 08 Jun, 2004 8:21 pm

I'm really torn between Opera 7.51 (which is much better than 7.23), Firefox and good old standby Netscape 7.1. I'm constantly switching between the three (and 7.1 actually is holding up quite well for me). What a happy dilemma! :wink:

I know it sounds a bit superficial, but the thing I like most about Opera is the great integration of the themes and the "polish" of the GUI. The buttons, menus, toolbars just have a nicer look and function to them than any Mozilla offering.
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Re: Opera - Best Web Browser of 2004 (PC World Magazine)

Postby Mandrake » Tue 08 Jun, 2004 8:28 pm

DJGM wrote:
Edward wrote:Opera has been selected as the Best Web Browser for 2004, by PC World Magazine.


That's until Mozilla release Firefox 1.0 . . . then there'll be absolutely no competition!


Yeah, Firefox rocks. It's free too, it's also free of ad-banners! Firefox 0.9 has an update 'Qute' theme, with a different throbber. (Although I don't even use a throbber in FireFox).

I tried Opera 7.5, but the UI is way too cluttered IMHO. I changed it to the way I like it, but many end-users would just get confused.
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Postby Jeffredo » Tue 08 Jun, 2004 8:40 pm

I agree Mandrake. The default toolbars are a cluttered mess. I streamlined mine to the same basic configuration as Firefox (which is pretty much ideal for basic web browsing). And yes, I doubt most users would take the time to investigate how to customize it!
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Postby Edward » Wed 09 Jun, 2004 5:04 pm

And that is one of the beauties of Opera. You can customize the UI to your liking.

Personally, I did not like the default UI that appears at installation, but it was not a big deal to change it. :)
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Postby Jeffredo » Thu 10 Jun, 2004 11:46 am

I feel Opera should have a simpler UI that can be made as complicated as you wish if you need to have a multitude of icons and toolbars. I think Opera tries to cover too many bases (or tries to impress new users with it's multitude of features by packing them all in the default UI). Either way, it's a bit intimidating for a new user. I was not a complete "noob" to PC's when I first downloaded Opera and I almost uninstalled it because of the screen hogging toolbars and menu buttons. The first time it took me about an hour to figure out how to "unclutter" it enough to suit me. Now I can do it in a few minutes.

As a contrast, Firefox is the model of simplicity and adding the buttons I wanted and configuring the personal bar with my bookmark folders took all of 10 minutes the first time! :)

That said, I really enjoy Opera now, but it does have a bit of a steep learning curve for a browser.
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Postby bhtooefr » Wed 18 Aug, 2004 12:48 pm

This argument could go forever ;-)

Here's what I have to say.

Firefox does FEEL faster than Opera. However, Gecko makes it quite heavy - Opera is ~3.5MB, FF is ~4.5MB WITHOUT an e-mail client.

Firefox is extensible, Opera isn't. However, Opera doesn't need those extensions for many things.

Opera is closed source ad/shareware (NOT spyware, don't flame me - I am an Opera fan), Firefox is open source.

Opera has many technological advancements that Firefox has either copied or doesn't have.

Also, Opera's not competing against Firefox - they're competing against Netscape/Mozilla. Think about it - SeaMonkey is an Internet SUITE (browser, mail, news, IRC, HTML editor, IM client in the case of Netscape). Opera is another Internet suite - browser, mail, news(?), RSS (via mail client), IRC. Firefox, on the other hand, is a browser, and that's it.

Just something to think about...
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Postby orizng » Thu 19 Aug, 2004 1:22 pm

wonder which will be best for 2005?
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Postby Gregor » Mon 27 Sep, 2004 12:24 am

Firefox 1.0, who else !
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Postby Edward » Mon 27 Sep, 2004 4:44 pm

Gregor wrote:Firefox 1.0, who else !


Once they fix the broken pop-up blocker...
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