Opera

stew2 · 31 May 2010

Just started to use Opera and iv got to say im really liking it.

I have used firefox for about the last 3 years but for the last few months it seemed to be crashing more and more and clean installs with no add ons being used were not fixing the problem, so i made the switch to opera about a week ago.

It feels faster than firefox, looks better and feels smoother due to the little animations it uses and once you remove the buttons you don't need add the adblock.ini its just about perfect. Its just better in my opinion :)

Its only downsides are that its cluttered when you first download it and also that to me at least, its a bit more confusing all the different things it does and they way the lay out the options in the "O" button.

But anyway does anybody know of good sites to read up on opera tweaks, widgets etc. for a noob at opera?

Barman58 · 31 May 2010

Hi Stew,

Here's somewhere to start ....

Opera Browser Wiki :: The Opera Browser and Internet Suite

ryo · 31 May 2010

Opera Tutorial

maybe can help for reference.

stew2 · 31 May 2010

Cheers Barman and Ryo.

Oh and if anybody knows what the little circle is that appears on tabs that that would be great. I presume its when something on the tab changes, for example the page updates but id just like to know for sure.

Barman58 · 31 May 2010

The circle is as you say an update indicator - try a refresh [F5], to see it appear - works best on complex pages

stew2 · 31 May 2010

Yeah i thought that was it. Iv tried searching on the opera forum for answers to my questions but its search feature just brings up totally unrelated things.

But cheers for the links guys il read through them and hopefully learn something :)

A Guy · 31 May 2010

stew2 said:

Its only downsides are that its cluttered when you first download it and also that to me at least, its a bit more confusing all the different things it does and they way the lay out the options in the "O" button.

Yeah, I've been touting Opera to my friends for years now, but they all want FF and no Chrome, because you can add all the addons. Opera is good for me as is. As you say, some adblocking and the windows host file, and I see nary an ad.

As far as the big O, you can change that to the more familar File Edit View... menu bar if you like (as I do). Very customizable, down to buttons and such if you are interested too (my skin is Lix).

A Guy

MWRed · 31 May 2010

I've used Opera since 9.6x. It's simple, and easy to use. A lot of people complain about not having "add-ons like FF" but that's just because they've been spoiled by all the add-ons. FF has just gotten slow compared to what it used to be, which is why I switched. FF is still installed, as a backup for the oddball page that doesn't look right in Opera.

FYI, in some certain sites in Opera, it looks like things overlap, or are jumbled together( like menu's on a page, or dialog boxes)....go up to the "O", then "page" and turn "Fit to width" on or off.

I also like being able to drag links to the bar, and just have the "favicons" show on it, less clutter and a simple way to get to the pages you use most.

stve · 31 May 2010

Instead of using the menu button press your Alt key for the Menu with keyboard shortcuts & press F1 for Help tons of info there.
Try right clicking on toolbars & pages , for example right click on the speedial background /appearance & click on find more skins

stew2 · 01 Jun 2010

Hi guys,

the big "O" button id prefer like the addon i was using in firefox but oh well. As for skins etc i access the internet through xp in virtualbox which uses classic so im quite happy with the default in opera as i cant have aero etc effects.

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The only thing i miss from firefox is the "ie tab" addon. Iv found something called the neptune plugin, is that the best there is because its a load of ****? Iv got it to open an actuall IE window but i cant get it to open as a tab in opera. When i try to open it as just a tab it crashes the whole browser

EDIT: iv begun customizing opera by adding a clear data button, back and forward buttons, an ie button etc and customizing speed dial. Its a lot trickier to get what you want compared to firefox but il persevere :)