Opera vs Firefox

Dr. Z · 23-11-2007, 21:37

Right, I have been using Opera for a little while now and I have come to the conclusion that it is better than Firefox in a number of ways:

It loads faster, it does everything faster once you are using it and it generally feels more responsive. It might only be a fraction faster if you timed it, but thats enough to make it feel like greased lightning in comparison.

As I type this, Opera is using about 50Mb of RAM - quite a lot, but FF was using over 100Mb when I closed it. Not sure why browsers seem to need so much RAM these days but there we go. Opera is slightly lighter

"Speed Dials" - This is something I have wanted in FireFox for ages and ages. When I open a new tab, firefox does nothing - it presents you with a blank page. Whilst this is useful, often I would be opening a new tab to go to google or something and its impulsive to hit ctrl+t to open a new tab and then type in the address. If I wanted to go to a bookmark I would middle click the bookmark and away I went.

Opera lets you set up speed-dials, so that when you open a tab you are presented with 9 boxes containing an image of whatever you set them to be. Click the box and the page opens. Alternatively you can press CTRL+ the number of the speed-dial, so 1 opens google, 2 opens wikipedia etc etc.

Perhaps something you would have to get used to but for me thats a huge bonus and I never found a way to do it in Firefox.

Also, I dont know why but Opera just seems to "feel" nicer. I guess the fact that for so long people had to pay to use it means that somehow they have listened to their customers more and have developed a fantastic product.

Give it a go anyway - I have and I cant see myself going back to Firefox unless something drastic crops up with Opera

23-11-2007, 21:37	#1
Dr. Z I'm going for a scuttle... Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,021	Opera vs Firefox Right, I have been using Opera for a little while now and I have come to the conclusion that it is better than Firefox in a number of ways: It loads faster, it does everything faster once you are using it and it generally feels more responsive. It might only be a fraction faster if you timed it, but thats enough to make it feel like greased lightning in comparison. As I type this, Opera is using about 50Mb of RAM - quite a lot, but FF was using over 100Mb when I closed it. Not sure why browsers seem to need so much RAM these days but there we go. Opera is slightly lighter "Speed Dials" - This is something I have wanted in FireFox for ages and ages. When I open a new tab, firefox does nothing - it presents you with a blank page. Whilst this is useful, often I would be opening a new tab to go to google or something and its impulsive to hit ctrl+t to open a new tab and then type in the address. If I wanted to go to a bookmark I would middle click the bookmark and away I went. Opera lets you set up speed-dials, so that when you open a tab you are presented with 9 boxes containing an image of whatever you set them to be. Click the box and the page opens. Alternatively you can press CTRL+ the number of the speed-dial, so 1 opens google, 2 opens wikipedia etc etc. Perhaps something you would have to get used to but for me thats a huge bonus and I never found a way to do it in Firefox. Also, I dont know why but Opera just seems to "feel" nicer. I guess the fact that for so long people had to pay to use it means that somehow they have listened to their customers more and have developed a fantastic product. Give it a go anyway - I have and I cant see myself going back to Firefox unless something drastic crops up with Opera __________________