Skip to main content

One of my obsessions

I was planning to write a blog on this from a very very long time. But somehow the narcissist in me kept on writing articles just about myself. Unlike me, this is something very useful and interesting. Yes, you guessed it right. I am talking about Opera – my favorite browser.

Before I start…
1) If you are one of the persons who are fed up of my excessive admiration towards Opera (without even bothering to know why I admire), this article is not for you!
2) If you are one of those persons who use Internet once in a fortnight just to check mails, this may not be so useful to you.
3) If you are one of those millions who still think that Internet Explorer is the only browser and don’t feel a need to change just because you can ‘browse’ with IE, this is definitely not for you (its like saying there is no difference between a 486 and a P4, because you can play Paratroopers on both ;))
4) When browsing with IE, if one of your windows hung and it killed all other IE windows, and you had felt completely hopeless and angry looking at that stupid blue icon “e”, this one’s for you!
5) If you are using any other browser other than IE(like Firefox), but having an open mind that there can be a browser having better features, this one’s for you!

Well, what can I say about this amazing browser? That it is the fastest browser on earth? That it has so many features that I have lost count? Its totally customizable? (With due respect to Erich Segal, this is not plagiarism. Its just a mere coincidence that he was as awed by Jennifer as I am by Opera!)

What do I like the most about Opera? Here’s the list. (and all these features in less than 5 MB)
1) Opera does not ask you to browse as ‘it wants you to’ – it gives you the freedom to customize ‘the way you want it’. You don’t want a button – remove it, you want to place a toolbar on the bottom instead of the top, you want to have a close button for every tab – yes, its possible!
2) Opera has a wand, which helps auto-filling forms.
3) Has an inbuilt RSS aggregator (though it is a relatively new feature and I am sure, will be enhanced in future versions)
4) Has mouse gestures to open, close, refresh page, open links etc.
5) You can include additional search engines, within a minute.
6) If you have 3 sites opened, and you want these to be opened at a later time, you can store this as a “session” and whenever you need, you can open that ‘session’ (Its an amazing feature, which I don’t think Firefox has)
7) Did you ever see something interesting in a site, which you wanted to copy for a later use and opened Notepad, copied it and wondering where to save that file? Forget it, Opera has “Notes”. Select something and do a Ctrl+Shift+C, and it copies to your note inside Opera (Yes, Firefox does not have this too)
8) Opera has a full fledged mail client facility (I have not tried this, but read that its good)
9) Did you ever feel that some sites have very small or very large fonts and you wanted that to be displayed in a size you like? You can use the zoom facility in opera.

There are tons of other features which I simply love, about which I thought of writing in detail, but came across this amazing link (I am an Opera user from more than 3 years and I felt I knew almost everything about it before going through this link. How wrong was I!).
Read it when you are free, you will know why I am an Opera fanatic.
30 Days to Becoming an Opera Lover

If you want to know why Opera is better than Firefox, read this
Comparing Opera and Firefox

Visit one more Opera lover Vijay here.

I don’t say that Opera is perfect (few sites don’t open in Opera, google talk chat from browser does not work etc.), but the benefits are so much that you will ignore those (for such rare scenarios, we have our pathetic IE anyways)

Long live Opera!

Comments

Vedu Joshi said…
Guru,
Its based on IE core...else you dont get such a browser for 3.4 MB

So, be nice to IE :)
Vedu Joshi said…
ok ok...i am wrong :)
Anonymous said…
Vasu, you've referred to a Aug 2003 article to say why Opera is better than Firefox when Firefox didn't even exist !!. And all the features you've said (saving sessions, copying text as notes etc) and more are present in firefox as plugins/extensions. There are close to 1000 of them...Take a look at them they are unbelievably innovative. The only drawback I see in firefox is it hogs memory..but these days with memory becoming so cheap I wouldn't worry about it...

- ASJ
Anonymous said…
Vasu,

Guru Here remember the school days!!, You have a wonderful art of writing ...I'm just amazed you could do all this...Yes Yes I never thought you could write so well ...
Oh yes, I would like you to invite me for a Writely Account..!!!

See no free Lunches or praises in this world!!


Take Care,
Guru

Popular posts from this blog

ಹೀಗೊಂದು ಹಾರರ್ ಕಥೆ

ಅದೊಂದು ಊರಾಚೆ ಇರೋ ಸ್ಮಶಾನ. ನಿರ್ಜನ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದುದರಿಂದಲೋ ಏನೋ ಅದರ ಬಳಿ ಯಾರೂ ಸುಳಿದಾಡುತ್ತಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಇದ್ದ ಕಟ್ಟುಕತೆಗಳೂ ಏನೂ ಕಮ್ಮಿ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಮಾವಾಸ್ಯೆಯ ರಾತ್ರಿ ಅದರ ಬಳಿ ಹಾದುಹೋದವರು ಒಂದು ವಾರದೊಳಗೆ ರಕ್ತ ಕಾರಿಕೊಂಡು ಸಾಯ್ತಾರಂತೆ, ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ಹುಣಸೆಮರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಣಸೆಹಣ್ಣು ಬಿಡೋದು ನಿಂತು ವರ್ಷಗಳೇ ಆಗಿದೆಯಂತೆ ಹೀಗೆ...ಅದು ನಿಜವೋ ಸುಳ್ಳೋ ಅಂತ ಪರೀಕ್ಷಿಸೋ ಧೈರ್ಯ ಯಾರಿಗಿದ್ದೀತು? ಪಾಪ ಆ ಸ್ಮಶಾನಕ್ಕಾದರೂ ಅಷ್ಟೇ, ಆ ಊರಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ತವರನ್ನು ಹೂಳಲು ತಂದಾಗ ಮಾತ್ರ ಜನರ ದರ್ಶನದ ಭಾಗ್ಯ! ಅವನು ಹುಟ್ಟಾ ಹುಂಬ. "ನಿನ್ ಕೈಲಿ ಆಗಲ್ಲ ಬಿಡು" ಅಂತ ಅವನ ಗೆಳೆಯರು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೋ ಏನೋ ಅವನ ತಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆ ಆಲೋಚನೆ ಹೊಕ್ಕಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿತ್ತು. ಚಿಕ್ಕ ವಯಸ್ಸು ಬೇರೆ, ಬಿಸಿ ರಕ್ತ. ಏನಾದರಾಗಲೀ ನೋಡೇಬಿಡೋಣ ಅಂತ ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿ ಆ ರಾತ್ರಿ ಒಬ್ಬನೇ ಸ್ಮಶಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗುವುದೆಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದ. ಆಸೆಗಿಂತ ಭಯ ದೊಡ್ಡದು, ಅದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ದೊಡ್ಡದು ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಕುತೂಹಲ. ನೆತ್ತಿಯ ಮೇಲಿನ ಸೂರ್ಯನನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ, ಇವನು ಮುಳುಗಲು ಇನ್ನೂ ಎಷ್ಟು ಹೊತ್ತು ಅಂತ ಚಡಪಡಿಸತೊಡಗಿದ. ಮಧ್ಯರಾತ್ರಿಯ ಸಮಯ. ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಸುಳಿವು ಕೊಡದೆ ಸ್ಮಶಾನದೆಡೆಗೆ ಹೊರಟವನ ಎದೆಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಿದ್ದು ಬರೀ ಹುಮ್ಮಸ್ಸು. ಕೊಂಚವೂ ಭಯವಿಲ್ಲದ ಈ ಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಅಸಹಜವಾ ಅಂತ ತನಗೆ ತಾನೇ ಕೇಳಿಕೊಂಡ. ಭಯ ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸೋ ತಾಕತ್ತಿರುವುದು ಭ್ರಮೆಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ. ಆಗ ಮಾತ್ರ ತಂಗಾ...

Anartha Kosha

I finished reading the delightful "Anartha Kosha" by Na Kasturi . Its a 'one of its kind' book in Kannada. Though it seems to resemble Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary", Kasturi adds more flavors to the book - by making puns with existing words, coining new words sounding like existing words, merging two Kannada words to form a new word, merging Kannada word with an English word, twisting the proverbs etc. - to hilarious effect. Go read the full book, till then here is the list of my favorite ones from the book: ಅಕಟಕಟಾ - ನಾವು ಹೀಗೆ ರೋಧಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಗ ತಮಿಳರು ಅಯ್ಯೋ ಅನ್ನುತ್ತಿದರು. ಅಚ್ಚಾತುರ್ಯ - ಅಚ್ಚು ಮಾಡುವಾಗಿನ ಚಾತುರ್ಯ, ಬರಹಗಾರರು ಮಾಡುವ ತಪ್ಪುಗಳನ್ನು ಸರಿಪಡಿಸುವ ಜಾಣತನ; ಮೊಳೆ ಜೋಡಿಸುವುದರಿಂದ ಹೊಸ ಭಾಷಾ ಪ್ರಯೋಗಗಳನ್ನು ರಚಿಸುವ ಚಮತ್ಕಾರ. ಅಣುಕಂಪ - ಒಂದು ಊರಲ್ಲಿ ಅಣು ಬಾಂಬು ಸಿಡಿದಾಗ ನೆರೆಯೂರುಗಳಲ್ಲಾಗುವ ಸಂತಾಪ. ಅತಿಯಾಸೆ - ನಮಗಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಲಾಭ ಗಳಿಸಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಪಡುವವರ ದುರ್ಗುಣ. ಅತ್ತೆ - ಈಕೆಗೆ ಮೀಸೆ ಬಂದರೆ, ಚಿಕ್ಕಪ್ಪ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಬಹುದು - ಮರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ. ಅನುಕಾರಣ - ಒಂದು ಕಾರಿನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಮತ್ತೊ...

Nonsense logic of a cricket crazy nation

I am quite a cricket fan myself and I love watching and playing cricket (arguably the best left handed batsman of Kuvempunagar ;)) I don't care if it is a test match or one-day, Indo-Pak series or World Cup. I can even watch the galli cricket, as I adore the art in the game. Its the poetry in the game that appeals to me. I always considered that Indian cricket team consists of some amazing players, but we are nowhere near when it comes to a good team. We have never won convincingly for too long and we are never predictable (Its not just a problem with India, but all the sub-continent teams) Off late, India have been playing pretty badly (as bad as they are capable of) and we are seeing intense reactions from the "fans". I somehow don't understand many of the logic behind the anger of the "fans"! 1) The most stupid statement I hear very often is "Cricketers are playing badly because they are concentrating too much on advertisements". Come on, can an...