Opera for Windows

~terry Fri, Aug 9, 1996 (20:56) seed

Opera for Windows -- Following in the footsteps of AMSD's Ariadna (from Russia) and UdiWWW (from Germany), Opera is the latest international web browser to hit the 'net, . Opera hails from Norway and is offered in three different languages -- English, Swedish, and Norwegian. Opera's strongest point is its multimedia capabilities. Inline support is provided for a wide variety of image, audio, and video formats, including background sounds (MIDI and WAV), Video for Windows (AVI), MPEG Video, animated GIFs, and four different graphic types (JPEG, GIF, XBM and BMP). Opera steps it up in terms of enhanced HTML features as well. Full tables and forms support, HTML 2.0 (and most HTML 3.2 commands), and client side image mapping are a sampling of Opera's impressive command of the HTML language. Integrated mail (send only) and news reading, right mouse button functionality, an extremely helpful status bar, a keyboard interface for single key browsing, multiple concurrent windows support, context sensitive menus, and a number of unique features useful for the physically challenged round out Opera's solid feature-set. Opera is currently only available as a Windows 3.x application, but a Windows 95/NT version is in the works. Features missing relative to the competition include support for frames, Java applets, HTML editing, inline VRML, ActiveX controls, plug-in modules, and mail receival capabilities. Overall, Opera excels as an international web browser, but when compared to the two titans of the industry, Netscape and Internet Explorer, Opera is strictly second-fiddle. Pros: Multiple windows support, advanced multimedia capabilities, forms and tables support Cons: Lacks many critical features, including support for Java, frames, and plug-ins New: This is the initial review for Opera Version Reviewed: 2.07 Date of Review: 7/24/96 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud

~martyn Mon, Jul 14, 1997 (12:11) #1

Your review is now a little out of date - the current release is 2.12 (Feb 97) This release does now support frames (which can be disabled), and is also available for Windows 95. Although Opera does not yet have all the bells and whistles, it can be installed from a single floppy disk (it's self-extracting exe file is 766kb) - how many are needed for Netscape or MIE? Also, Opera is at least as fast as the main players and can run reasonably on a 386 or 486 PC - there are still quite a few users on that sort of platform. Okay, so its not purfect, but what is, and it does do most of what most people need most of the time. Please look at it again.

~PhilipM Sat, Feb 14, 1998 (09:23) #2

I must agree with Martyn's comments. I look at browsers the way I look at PIMs. I have tried a variety of PIMs but somecome with features that are particulary sophisticated but might be rarely used. I have settled down comfortably with a "smaller" PIM that has all the "basic" features needed but which features are used and used often. Some people want a fast, easy to configure, browser for going to a site, getting some information, or downloading some material and get out. Some of use are not really looking for a multimedia experience. I have Opera and one of the "major" browsers installed. Each serves its own purpose.

~terry Thu, Oct 29, 1998 (08:23) #3

I downloaded the beta of Opera 3.5 and it seems great. I can't remember what I didn't like about 3.0, but so far my only problem with 3.5 is that I can't set the background color, but I think that's just a bug. Definitely worth checking out if you're not totally happy with Netscape or MSIE. http://www.operasoftware.com Ya, Opera. It still fits on one floppy! I like Opera a lot and I've been using it as my main browser since late in the 3.0 beta. It's the only browser I ever paid for. I like the way you can save settings so you can open a bunch of pages at once when it starts and I use a trick I got from the Opera site where you can have different setups tied to different icons. I have one that gets 5 different weather sites with one click. The main thing it won't do is Java which is a problem since one site I go to actually does a useful thing with Java which is rare (it's a directional sea wave energy spectra which is really cool). It could be done another way, but it isn't so I need one of the big 2 browsers for that.