Opera 9.27 vs. Firefox 3 Beta5

[backdrifter]

About a month ago I reinstalled Vista on my laptop, and as soon as I was aware of the Glasser extension I decided to give Firefox 3 B5 a try. I?ve been an Opera user for almost a year and after a month of using both of them, I thought I should share my humble opinions about them. I know you?re all bored to death with these browser comparisons but maybe you might want to join as welLooks:

This is a highly personal comparison, but Firefox with the Glasser and Hide Menu Bar extensions, looks brilliant on Vista. It suits very well to the OS environment and while many people dislike the strange back-forward buttons, they prevent the browser from looking dull.

Opera on the other hand looks very simple on the first look. While I find nothing particularly wrong with Opera?s appearance, it still looks a generation older compared to Firefox, at least on Vista. Both browsers deserve credit for being very customizaResponsiveness: :

This is going to be very subjective because I didn?t have the time nor the knowledge to conduct serious benchmarks but on the same computer, Opera is generally more responsive and lighter on memory usage. For instance, after a big render job with 3ds Max, minimized Opera with a couple of tabs generally restored quicker for me than Firefox 3. Again these are very subjective tests so don?t bash me fFeatures:turDragging Tabs: g Tabs: When I drag a tab from Opera to the outside of the window, Opera opens it in a new window, while Firefox just pastes the link as text or a shortcut. I really enjoy Opera?s behaviour, because for instance when browing with a lot of tabs and you found something that you?ll take reference from during the remaining of your search, you could just drag that tab out and keep it side by side with oyur main browPassword Saving:word Saving: Both browsers offer you to remember your login information, with Opera when you save your password, the next time you come to that page, empty log in fields have a glowing border to let you know saved passwords are available. You have to press Ctrl+Enter to automatically log in. With Firefox my password saving experience was a bit disappointing. When I came back to I site where I saved my password, my user name and password was already typed at the fields, waiting for me to press Log-In. While Opera?s method isn?t exactly safe, the fact that it?s not that obvious suits Trash:er.

? Trash: Opera?s little trash button which enables you to open closed tabs again is extremely useful for me. Almost after a month of using Firefox I discovered there is a similar function in the menus, but doesn?t really work well for me sSpeed Dial / Awesome Bar:peed Dial / Awesome Bar: While completely irrelevant with each other, I don?t really fancy both features. They are nice to have, no negative sides and all, but notFast Forward:r me.

? Fast Forward: OK, this is the single most awesome feature I believe Opera has, and this is probably the feature why I wouldn?t ever drop Opera for something else. I can just drag my mouse right to go to the next page in gallery, the next page in search results and so on, simply impressive. I searched an add-on for Firefox, all I could find was a limited version (only for search results) and it wasn?t available for Firefox 3.

I?m sure there are ways to overcome my complaints with Firefox 3. (changing settings, installing add-ons) but try to understand that I didn?t really want to tinker with settings or searching for add-ons, I wanted the compare the out-of-the-box experiences.

[Richardarkless]

why didnt you use firefox 3 RC1 plus theres opera 9.50 beta 2 out as well

[[deXter]]

^ You mean Opera 9.50.10014 :)

[fudzk]

??Password Saving:u> Both browsers offer you to remember your login information, with Opera when you save your password, the next time you come to that page, empty log in fields have a glowing border to let you know saved passwords are available. You have to press Ctrl+Enter to automatically log in. With Firefox my password saving experience was a bit disappointing. When I came back to I site where I saved my password, my user name and password was already typed at the fields, waiting for me to press Log-In. While Opera?s method isn?t exactly safe, the fact that it?s not that obvious suits me a bit better.

i've to disaggree on that, i think the password already typed in better than the opera version... but thats not so decisive

i think its a question of style taste and os

with vista or a vista skin firefox 3 looks really more brilliant than opera

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

If you want to compare Opera to Fx why not use Fx 3.0 RC1 ?

[backdrifter]

At time I installed Firefox, RC1 wasn't available. But since I'm talking more about design decisions and major functions, will it really make any difference?

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

At time I installed Firefox, RC1 wasn't available. But since I'm talking more about design decisions and major functions, will it really make any difference?

RC1 is far superior than Beta 5. so I think it would make a difference. Albeit not huge.

[backdrifter]

RC1 is far superior than Beta 5. so I think it would make a difference. Albeit not huge.

Fair enough, I'll update my FF3 with the latest release and see how it goes. I must admit though this wasn't the direction I expected the discussion would go. :)

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Fair enough, I'll update my FF3 with the latest release and see how it goes. I must admit though this wasn't the direction I expected the discussion would go. :)

Well below is a screenshot of RC1. You can see the Diff.

[KeeperOfThePizza]

I'm pretty darn gone happy with Firefox 3 RC 1.

[backdrifter]

Downloading right now, all I need is a good Fast-Forward replacement now, before I switch to FF3, because it looks darn good under Vista.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Downloading right now, all I need is a good Fast-Forward replacement now, before I switch to FF3, because it looks darn good under Vista.

HERE are a bunch of scripts.

[bangbang023 Veteran]

Comparing a skinned Firefox to the default theme in Opera is a bit unfair, no?

[backdrifter]

Comparing a skinned Firefox to the default theme in Opera is a bit unfair, no?

That's true, but Opera skins (as far as I'm aware) just change the color schemes and icons. I really don't find Opera ugly, I'm just saying that Firefox 3 (even without Glasser) blends better with its environment.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Comparing a skinned Firefox to the default theme in Opera is a bit unfair, no?

Opera is skinable.

[bangbang023 Veteran]

That's true, but Opera skins (as far as I'm aware) just change the color schemes and icons. I really don't find Opera ugly, I'm just saying that Firefox 3 (even without Glasser) blends better with its environment.

It does, but you should still use the "out of box" skin. Also, to be fair, if you're going to use the latest Fx beta, you should also be using the latest Opera beta.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

It does, but you should still use the "out of box" skin. Also, to be fair, if you're going to use the latest Fx beta, you should also be using the latest Opera beta.

Well then Opera cannot be compared to Fx in anyway. Opera does not have extensions to add. So by definition Firefox is a far superior product.

[bangbang023 Veteran]

Well then Opera cannot be compared to Fx in anyway. Opera does not have extensions to add. So by definition Firefox is a far superior product.

What? How did you come to that conclusion? Opera has widgets which, while not as powerful as Extensions, do add functionality in similar ways. Either way, the only fair comparison would be to compare both products as they come out of the box, with no add-ons or themes. You can't sit and fairly compare the looks of two separate products when one has been given a custom paint job and the other is stock.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

What? How did you come to that conclusion? Opera has widgets which, while not as powerful as Extensions, do add functionality in similar ways. Either way, the only fair comparison would be to compare both products as they come out of the box, with no add-ons or themes. You can't sit and fairly compare the looks of two separate products when one has been given a custom paint job and the other is stock.

Opera has widgets which, while not as powerful as Extensions

You just proved my point. A widget is not an extension. Browsers are compared to one another all of the time. Firefox v IE v Opera..etc. Opera is quite fast, I just prefer the way that Firefox can be altered via an extension or a script. I do not believe that a user can alter the source code in Opera. :)

[bangbang023 Veteran]

You just proved my point. A widget is not an extension. Browsers are compared to one another all of the time. Firefox v IE v Opera..etc. Opera is quite fast, I just prefer the way that Firefox can be altered via an extension or a script. I do not believe that a user can alter the source code in Opera. :)

But that has nothing, at all, to do with my complaints. It's a tangent, at best. My complaint is the lack of balance in the test. He's using the latest Beta version of Firefox with a custom Vista skin to an older version of Opera with a standard skin. To be fair, he would have to compare both of the latest betas without any skins or extensions/widgets installed. Considering he doesn't even mention anything about the add-ons, there's no need to even worry about the level of support for extendability in the context of this comparison.

To add to my point, he says he wanted to compare the "out of box" experience, but he broke that when he customized the look of Fx and then compared the styling of each browser and how it fits into the Vista environment.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

But that has nothing, at all, to do with my complaints. It's a tangent, at best. My complaint is the lack of balance in the test. He's using the latest Beta version of Firefox with a custom Vista skin to an older version of Opera with a standard skin. To be fair, he would have to compare both of the latest betas without any skins or extensions/widgets installed. Considering he doesn't even mention anything about the add-ons, there's no need to even worry about the level of support for extendability in the context of this comparison.

To add to my point, he says he wanted to compare the "out of box" experience, but he broke that when he customized the look of Fx and then compared the styling of each browser and how it fits into the Vista environment.

You are right, a true test would be between the latest release of Opera stripped and Firefox 3.0 RC1 with no extensions or scripting done.

[Steve Gosselin]

Opera does not have extensions to add.

Userjs and Widgets

[Dr.bAsem]

well i prefer opera coz of the higher performance and faster response .. also because of the fast forward dealio

if u know ur way around soe shortcuts u will rarely touch ur mouse

also if u have an old pc ,, opera is the choice for u coz of the low ram usage

[PricklyPoo]

I've always used opera just because it is quicker.

That is why I don't mind IE 6. :p

All I care is that the browser fires up quick and gets to the pages as fast as possible.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Userjs and Widgets

Opera is not open source. You can't get at the source code. I will stay with Firefox, I have been using it since it was called Phoenix.