Comments on: For Opera, smaller really is better

CTO Håkon Wium Lie says the company's moving faster on the tech front than much larger rival Microsoft.

[cary1]

still doesn't support Hindi..

I will stick to IE till opera is compliant with unicode

[mnegandhi]

Does Support Hindi

Evidently you don't test before you comment . Opera has had Unicode support for a number of versions. I view http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/ in Opera 9 without any rendering issues.

[jb3177]

Opera Rendering

Unfortunately, opera does not render many web pages well, including my MyYahoo page. I really dislike having to fall back on IE or Firefox.

[Hardrada]

rendering

you show your ignorance. It's the web page that is not formatted properly. if they design the web page to standards Opera will render it properly. Opera is the most standards-compliant browser. See 'Website rendering' under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticisms_of_Opera#Criticisms

Opera is one of few browsers which pass acid2 test. IE and firefox 2 don't pass it yet.

[rcrusoe]

IE7 is a "paint job"?

That's being kind. With all the problems IE continues to have, I'd
compare 7.0 to rebuilding a "total wreck".

Personally I think the the best thing MS has done lately is
publish ie70blocker.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?
FamilyID=4516A6F7-5D44-482B-9DBD-869B4A90159C&displa
ylang=en

[rapier1]

Do you use it much?

Do you use IE7 with any regularity? What are the specific problems
you have with it?

[Akiba]

Opera is better but inconvinient.

First of all Opera is best browser available. A lot of the features and extensions Firefox fans brag about originated from a Opera as built in features.

Unfortunately being the most compliant browser doesn't make it the most convinient. In the real world I don't have the option of only visiting compliant websites. There are some features withing Opera that are supposed to deal with those issues but they just haven't worked for me. I have finally given up and wen't with firefox, out of convinience.

[otmf]

2nd rendering comment...

I've tried Opera on and off for years and they don't render many sites well. Com'on My Yahoo and Yahoo Mail are a must!

[Hardrada]

who's fault

I don't know why ppl don't understand. Yahoo just makes sure their website works on IE/firefox. They don't test it on other browsers. Though Opera is better standard-compliant, the website creator just ignores to test in Opera. It's not the browser's fault. It's the website's fault.

[plings]

Yahoo works for me

No problems with My Yahoo or Yahoo Mail here, using Opera 9...

[cnutsucks]

Not an Opera fan

My former company's webmaster would spend weeks on
http://www.teckmagazine.com/content/view/690/43/
end making our sites Opera-compatible. The web-based company is now on brink of bankruptcy because the sites weren't compatible with ALL other browsers. To the surprise of no one, the webmaster is now out of work.

[System Tyrant]

Sounds like incompetence

Don't blame Opera because you had a hack as a web developer. The guy may have had an infatuation with Opera, but it's not Opera's fault the guy couldn't develop a website properly.

[flaccid]

I agree

I am a client-side developer and use Opera as the primary dev browser.
Because of my knowledge and experience I can create valid sites that are compatible with most major browsers. It does not take more time, it takes less time.

You can be a 'web designer' and hack up something awful. Or you can be a 'web developer' of standards advocation and build something solid.

[System Tyrant]

Why are you explaining...

standards to the average web users. They don't care and they never will. They look at Opera and Firefox and try to compare it to IE. They view a webpage created using Frontpage in Firefox and Opera and then blame the browser because it won't render it like IE does. They don't, won't, or can't understand the difference.

Some of them are the same people who use Frontpage to create a website and call them selves web developers. They are the same people who think standards stink or the IE is the standard by which all sites should be created.

Please stop trying to explain anything to users. They will never understand and they will never care.

[plings]

Because...

The audience reading this piece is a bit more tech savvy than most people, and clearly this guy addresses the tech crowd.

[pmfjoe]

Well..

As has been said before though, and what many of you MS haters forget or refuse to get, is that since IE controld most of the browser market it is the defacto standard and if the browser I use doesnt display the site properly, but the site does work on the 2 largest browsers then I blame the browser not the site.

[Efrow]

Opera rocks

I've been using Opera since around version 3.6 (maybe 7-8 years ago?) on a 486 and never looked back. Can't use IE now - so cumbersome and slow. Trying to explain this to IE users is near impossible. But whatever - I'll surf along quickly, smoothly, and intuitively on the superior browser, and they can clunk along on theirs.

PS: Not bashing Firefox. It rocks too. I just prefer Opera.

[2shortguy]

AMEN, (Speaks the truth)

I have used Opera since v5.0 fell in love with it immediately, SPEED and ease. Everything else was a downer after that (IE sucks sludge fom a polluted river flowing through a dump). I've used Netscape and Firefox also,... OPERA is the KING, may he RULE forever!

[Mendz]

Opera, Opera, Opera!

I love this product. Ever since... Consider:

- the first with tabbed browsing
- the first with mouse gestures
- the fastest
- the most secure
- standards compliant

And now that they're free... awesome...

[kuguy3000]

...don't forget NINTENDO!

Amazingly this article focused on everything except the one thing that may ultimately save this company...their singular partnership with Nintendo.

For those who don't know, Opera will be the sole provider of web browsing for both the Nintendo DS and upcoming Wii consoles. Word has it that both offer a great experience, and tech-heads should welcome the marriage of free-software and console hardware.