1 post tagged “opera”

I've been a huge advocate of Fire fox ever since I started using it, approximately 2 years back. Fire fox is not only faster (when loading pages) but also boasts additional functionalities that is severely lacking in IE6.  The biggest pull is Fire-Fox's tabbing capability. It allowed multiple web-pages to be opened in one single browser. If you are familiar with IE6, I'm sure you are well-aware of how frustrating it can be trying to find a particular page from the sea of windows opened. Fire -fox also boasts better ad-blocking capabilities. I realized a significant reduction in "spam-liked" pop up windows after making the switch.

Recently I downloaded Opera after listening about it from one of the podcasts I subscribe to. Just wanted to give it a shot since it received raved reviews. At first glance, it closely resembles Fire-fox; sharing the same clean minimalistic look. The first thing that attracted my eyes was naturally the tabs! Tabbing is really
essential if you're the multitasking type. The tabbing position I must say is however a little odd, the tabs are   placed above the address bar.  Personally I'd prefer it the other way round.

After further exploration, I noticed a number of interesting features, like note-taking,  voice input and the ability to add widgets. Widgets are small programs embedded within your browser that accomplishes a specific task. A good example would be a weather report widget that would alert you on weather changes in your area. This feature is also found in Fire fox. Among Opera's array of truly breath-taking features (maybe a little over exaggerated), the note-taking function is my favourite. I know it's low tech but heck it's extremely useful for forgetful individuals like mua.

In terms of performance, Opera was a tad slower than Fire-fox when loading www.etsy.com. Opera clocked a time of 36 sec compared to Fire fox's 32 sec. IE6 surprisingly did pretty well, sharing a compatible loading time with Opera.
In the area of memory consumption, IE6 consumed the least memory. Opera and Fire fox eats up about the same amount of memory. However you shouldnt worry as most comps have at least 512 mb RAM and that's more than sufficient to tame the hungriest nastiest memory consuming browser out there.

Verdict, I think I'll go back to Fire-fox. I guess I've grown accustomed to it. Opera would really be a great alternative if you're thinking of making a switch from IE6. I heard the new IE7 is equally as impressive, however it's still in Beta, so be prepared for a few unwelcome bugs or system loopholes. I've yet to try it though.

If you are still stuck with IE6, get rid of it! Save yourself from the agony and despair of "untab-table" (is this even a word?!) browsers. Give Firefox or Opera a try!