Browser Testing in Progress: Final report on Opera

January 28, 2008

I really don’t have anything to add to my list of features from my last post. I enjoyed using Opera and probably missed the enhanced Gmail interface more than anything. I did decide that, like Safari, Opera could never be my only browser because it just doesn’t allow me to do all the things I do on a regular basis. So, my final word on Opera is pretty much the same as with Safari. I did have to make some adjustments but was able to do everything I needed to do using Opera and in the few cases where I couldn’t, I turned to Firefox. I used to use the built-in e-mail feature of Opera and liked it at the time because I didn’t have to open up another program to check my e-mail. Now that I’m using Gmail, I didn’t take advantage of that feature because I didn’t need it.

I guess I need to say something about the fact that I haven’t covered security in any of my reviews. That’s because security hasn’t been an issue for me. I’m only reviewing these browsers for features that I use in a browser on a daily basis. I have no way of testing browser security. I use Zone Alarm as my firewall and Avast to provide virus protection. Even though I use Windows Defender to guard against adware/spyware, it never detects anything. I’ve even done occasional Spybot scans and other than cookies, the scan never turns up anything. As far as that goes, I’m a firm believer in practicing self-restraint when it comes to visiting websites. I use the ‘net primarily as a business tool so don’t have any reason to visit sites that may pose a threat. I also actually read the privacy statements on websites where I want to download software or music to make sure my e-mail address is not going to be shared with third parties and if it is, I just don’t use it. I must admit, I did miss the McAfee Site Advisor toolbar while I was using both Safari and Opera. Currently, it’s only available for Firefox and IE. If I did land on a questionable spam-producing site, the toolbar turned red to alert me that it had been reported as such.

I also know that in my reviews, there are other features I haven’t covered like bookmarks (favorites). Let me say here that both Safari and Opera provide easy to use bookmarking and both do have options for importing bookmarks from other browsers but since I’m only testing browsers for two weeks at a time and to see how their features support my daily activities, I haven’t used the import/export features. I’m well aware that my browser testing is narrow since it only takes in the features that I use personally, but I do think that there are other folks out there who may use those same features who might be interested in how the different browsers perform in those aspects.
The more I use different browsers, the more I find that deciding which one to use comes down to deciding to take a different route to work. I must admit that I have a pretty low threshold for boredom and like to change things up in my daily activities but not to the extent that I have to spend an awful lot of time adjusting. I like to take different routes to the same place, too, but I don’t try new ones when I need to get somewhere within a timeframe. The same thing with browsers…I like to try different ones because in doing so, I’m able to get my work done without doing it the same way every day. It’s a change of scenery I’m looking for, I guess.

So, on to this week’s browser: K-Meleon. Stay tuned for my report on this most recent “change of scenery” pursuit!

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