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Opera vs. Firefox
- Thread starter frankyk
- Start date
There's no comparison between Opera and Firefox. They both try to do two different things. A better comparison is between Opera with the Mozilla Suite, and Firefox with IE.
Opera is better if you want a browser suite: email, Usenet readers, and web composers in addition to a browser.
Firefox is better if you just want a simple, quick, flexible browser.
That said, it can't hurt to get a free Opera registration. I did just for the heck of it.
Opera is better if you want a browser suite: email, Usenet readers, and web composers in addition to a browser.
Firefox is better if you just want a simple, quick, flexible browser.
That said, it can't hurt to get a free Opera registration. I did just for the heck of it.
I just gave Opera a try because they are giving away registration keys today, so you don't have to deal with the damned ads. Anyway, it's way too screwy for me. It scrolls fast. Aside from that, I'll pass.
Firefox does a zillion things better.
Firefox does a zillion things better.
GJSNeptune
[H]F Junkie
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- Mar 31, 2004
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- 12,372
It's lightweight 'cause it doesn't come with any features out-of-box. Instead of getting a ton of extras you prolly won't use, you can download and install just the ones you want.compslckr said:
Z
Zinn
Guest
I'm not sure about flame wars... people aren't quite as explosive about browsers as they are about video cards. lol
i personally like Firefox. As a coder / designer, I see that it has better support for Cascading Style Sheets. I like how utilitarian it is as well.
Opera is fast, and the interface is completely customizeable. It has display bugs that break the display of my site, which kind of sucks, since my site validates CSS and XHTML. Heh that is one of the major reasons I don't use it.
But as far as which is better, I agree with Terpfen. It depends on what you want. You can't beat the features of Opera or the customizeability of the interface. On the other hand, you can't beat the simplicity of Firefox or the ease of getting new features through extensions.
It couldn't hurt to try both!
i personally like Firefox. As a coder / designer, I see that it has better support for Cascading Style Sheets. I like how utilitarian it is as well.
Opera is fast, and the interface is completely customizeable. It has display bugs that break the display of my site, which kind of sucks, since my site validates CSS and XHTML. Heh that is one of the major reasons I don't use it.
But as far as which is better, I agree with Terpfen. It depends on what you want. You can't beat the features of Opera or the customizeability of the interface. On the other hand, you can't beat the simplicity of Firefox or the ease of getting new features through extensions.
It couldn't hurt to try both!
Well, I won't comment on the non-browser parts of Opera, because I have never used them (I like picking the best standalone application for each task, rather than getting a suite all at once).
Opera Plusses -
I like the way it does tabs better than Firefox
When you do the +/- font size thing, it increases/decreases image sizes as well (firefox only does text)
Leaves most screen real estate open for the web page
Has a cool feature to remember what exact pages were open if your computer crashes and you have to reboot.
Opera Minusses -
Takes longer to load than firefox or IE
Crashes every now and again for no apparent reason
Has a really annoying system for showing files you have recently downloaded, or are downloading
Doesn't support flash very well (or at all as far as I can tell)
The 'remember password for this site' feature is practically useless, it never remembers
Forces you to log back into sites a lot more often than other browsers do
More pages just flat out don't work than with firefox
Doesn't block pop-ups
Firefox plusses -
Very fast, in operation and load time
Attractive, easy to use interface
Best pop-up and ad-blocker out there
Remember password feature actually works
Basically does everything I want in a browser
Firefox Minusses -
Doesn't increase image sizes when you do the CTRL-+ thing
Seems to have issues with Adobe Acrobat
Crashes a lot
Opera Plusses -
I like the way it does tabs better than Firefox
When you do the +/- font size thing, it increases/decreases image sizes as well (firefox only does text)
Leaves most screen real estate open for the web page
Has a cool feature to remember what exact pages were open if your computer crashes and you have to reboot.
Opera Minusses -
Takes longer to load than firefox or IE
Crashes every now and again for no apparent reason
Has a really annoying system for showing files you have recently downloaded, or are downloading
Doesn't support flash very well (or at all as far as I can tell)
The 'remember password for this site' feature is practically useless, it never remembers
Forces you to log back into sites a lot more often than other browsers do
More pages just flat out don't work than with firefox
Doesn't block pop-ups
Firefox plusses -
Very fast, in operation and load time
Attractive, easy to use interface
Best pop-up and ad-blocker out there
Remember password feature actually works
Basically does everything I want in a browser
Firefox Minusses -
Doesn't increase image sizes when you do the CTRL-+ thing
Seems to have issues with Adobe Acrobat
Crashes a lot
I don't know about Opera as I haven't tried it for a few years but I use Firefox on a daily basis. Also, I'm not sure about others but I haven't had the same issues with Adobe Acrobat or the crashing like NulloModo. In fact the only time firefox has crashed on me was because Windows itself was already crashing so really it was Windows fault and not firefox's and I have never ever had a problem with Adobe Acrobat. I've always been able to load and read pdf files from withing firefox.
The only issue I've every had (and it's not really much of an issue) is with active x controls. I used to use McAfee for my antivirus and firewall and it's update uses active x controls to do the updating. If you don't load the active x controls correctly the first time you try to access a site that needs them installed, then they never seem to ever get correctly loaded.
The only issue I've every had (and it's not really much of an issue) is with active x controls. I used to use McAfee for my antivirus and firewall and it's update uses active x controls to do the updating. If you don't load the active x controls correctly the first time you try to access a site that needs them installed, then they never seem to ever get correctly loaded.
The Bryophyte
Gawd
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2001
- Messages
- 974
I am actually using Opera right now because I downloaded the freebie and I've been playing with it. I find the pop-up blocker in this version to be excellent. I went to both cnn.com and ebaum's world without getting a single pop-up. I do not like the options menus very much, they just don't seem very intuitive to me.
Overall, I still prefer firefox. I don't use the integrated mail from Opera and I just can't seem to get the interface customized completely to my liking. I would say if you are not a tinkerer and you want an alternative browser Opera is really good.
Overall, I still prefer firefox. I don't use the integrated mail from Opera and I just can't seem to get the interface customized completely to my liking. I would say if you are not a tinkerer and you want an alternative browser Opera is really good.
WillowHawk
Gawd
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- Jul 7, 2004
- Messages
- 590
been using opera for a few years now, other than 1)some sites flat out not loading right, 2)media playback issues, and 3)spontaneous crashes,
ive absolutely loved it.
i tried firefox for a few days,and i just couldnt get used to it...coudlnt customize the toolbars as well as id have liked..and i sure as hell wasnt going to download a plug in for every little thing i wanted.
you're right, its not a great comparison, firefox vs IE would be the more...logic spar, simply because of what each one is made for.
one of the reasons why alot of people cant get used to Opera is the way that the customization is done...sometimes it can be complicated.. alot of hidden options and such, that the average run of the mill user wouldnt even think about. the key is just to play around with it for a while.
anyway, have fun with the upcoming flames..
ive absolutely loved it.
i tried firefox for a few days,and i just couldnt get used to it...coudlnt customize the toolbars as well as id have liked..and i sure as hell wasnt going to download a plug in for every little thing i wanted.
you're right, its not a great comparison, firefox vs IE would be the more...logic spar, simply because of what each one is made for.
one of the reasons why alot of people cant get used to Opera is the way that the customization is done...sometimes it can be complicated.. alot of hidden options and such, that the average run of the mill user wouldnt even think about. the key is just to play around with it for a while.
anyway, have fun with the upcoming flames..
I tried Opera 8.02. It seems to have better CSS support than IE, but still no comparison with FireFox. If you tweak FireFox a bit page rendering and downloading is a lot faster than Opera. I'm not sure there are any such options in Opera though I'll admit to not having used it as much. FireFox feels a lot faster. I liked the Opera feature of mouse gestures though. Fortunately, there's a FireFox extension for that so I'm using mouse gestures in FireFox.
I have both Opera and Firefox on my machine. I use Opera for just about everything except for the rare page that will not work right. On my machine, Opera loads a tad slower than a tweaked Firefox but renders pages a whole lot faster. Also, I like the way Opera handles tabs better.
I have grown very accustomed to Opera's interface and features. I know there are plugins for Firefox that add some Opera-like features such as mouse gestures, but they don't have nearly the same feel.
In short, I love both of these browsers, but I like Opera a bit more for what I do online.
I have grown very accustomed to Opera's interface and features. I know there are plugins for Firefox that add some Opera-like features such as mouse gestures, but they don't have nearly the same feel.
In short, I love both of these browsers, but I like Opera a bit more for what I do online.
Carlosinfl
Loves the juice
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- 6,633
I use Firefox on everything but my phone has Opera so ... 
Shadow2531
[H]ard|Gawd
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- Jun 13, 2003
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Basically a repeat from other threads, but..
Opera loads way faster than Firefox. If Opera doesn't load faster than Firefox on your system, it's most likely font related as the more fonts you have, the longer it takes Opera to scan them on startup.
Opera 8.02 has crashed more than it should. However most of those crashes for me were because I'm using beta versions of flash and quicktime. Using stable versions, Opera crashes less. Some crashes are caused by bugs, which are being taking care of. Sometimes security is a priority over bug fixing.
Firefox barely ever crashes, but quite often, after failed applet initialization, when you close Firefox, the process doesn't close and you have to kill it. This is still present in deer park alpha 2 at the least. Actually this problem has been there since Firebird and if you search bugzilla, you'll see.
Both Firefox and Opera have bugs with plugins. There are cases each way to show faults.
For CSS and Javascript/DOM support, you could quote examples each way.
Opera and Firefox have good xml support, but Opera incorrectly provides default styles for html elements in XML, which causes you to explicitly style everything in certain situations.
For printing, Firefox and Opera both suck at printing. Firefox often spits out blank pages for certain content and Opera can print anything but text in a selection.
Where Firefox shines, is with its rendering engine standards compliancy. Firefox does break some rules, but there are too many rendering bugs that cause Opera not to follow the spec on certain layout situations. These problems are being squashed as I type though.
I use both and I'd say if I could weigh each by their feel, Firefox would weigh as much as an elephant on jupiter and Opera would weight as much as a fly here.
As for extensions in Firefox, that's where the bloat is. Extensions are usually too heavy. I have found some nice extensions and skins to make Firefox look and feel close to Opera though.
Popup blocking is great in both browsers. There are ways to get by both though.
We could go on and on and on, but use both Firefox and Opera and you're pretty much set.
Opera loads way faster than Firefox. If Opera doesn't load faster than Firefox on your system, it's most likely font related as the more fonts you have, the longer it takes Opera to scan them on startup.
Opera 8.02 has crashed more than it should. However most of those crashes for me were because I'm using beta versions of flash and quicktime. Using stable versions, Opera crashes less. Some crashes are caused by bugs, which are being taking care of. Sometimes security is a priority over bug fixing.
Firefox barely ever crashes, but quite often, after failed applet initialization, when you close Firefox, the process doesn't close and you have to kill it. This is still present in deer park alpha 2 at the least. Actually this problem has been there since Firebird and if you search bugzilla, you'll see.
Both Firefox and Opera have bugs with plugins. There are cases each way to show faults.
For CSS and Javascript/DOM support, you could quote examples each way.
Opera and Firefox have good xml support, but Opera incorrectly provides default styles for html elements in XML, which causes you to explicitly style everything in certain situations.
For printing, Firefox and Opera both suck at printing. Firefox often spits out blank pages for certain content and Opera can print anything but text in a selection.
Where Firefox shines, is with its rendering engine standards compliancy. Firefox does break some rules, but there are too many rendering bugs that cause Opera not to follow the spec on certain layout situations. These problems are being squashed as I type though.
I use both and I'd say if I could weigh each by their feel, Firefox would weigh as much as an elephant on jupiter and Opera would weight as much as a fly here.
As for extensions in Firefox, that's where the bloat is. Extensions are usually too heavy. I have found some nice extensions and skins to make Firefox look and feel close to Opera though.
Popup blocking is great in both browsers. There are ways to get by both though.
We could go on and on and on, but use both Firefox and Opera and you're pretty much set.
xOKxTrunks
Gawd
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- Apr 29, 2005
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Opera does load fater, but thats the only advantage it has over Firefox, go with Firefox, you won't be dissapointed