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This makes some fair points, but I think this also suffers from some of the general disconnect between techies and the general web browsing populace (who probab

This makes some fair points, but I think this also suffers from some of the general disconnect between techies and the general web browsing populace (who probably provide the largest fraction of ad clicks, by the by). After watching some non-technical people browse the web, I think all modern browsers are pretty much equivalent (as far as the user is concerned). Normal users don't install extensions, they don't care about easy bookmark access or browser speed (as long as the difference isn't in the order of magnitudes) or really any of the things that browsers might do differently. It's just slightly different window dressing around websites. So I think cleaning up the Opera user interface as the article mentions, while nice, won't make a difference to user numbers. When products are effectively the same, marketing is the ONLY thing that matters (bundling aside). Now having said all that, there is of course a big difference amongst web browser when it comes to power users and as a long time Opera user, I find that it enables me to browse the web in ways that are not possible in Firefox and Chrome. 1. Good defaults (in terms of functionality and settings). I can install Opera on a new computer, connect to Opera Link to import bookmarks / searches, change three settings and I have my complete web browsing experience set up on another computer. I don't have to install ANY extensions, widgets or what have you. 2. The reason that I don't need extension is partially because some functionality is already included in the browser, and partially because the address bar in conjunction with bookmark aliases replaces a ton of extensions I might need to have and acts in many ways like a command line to the web. Bookmark aliases let you specify some "command" that you type in in the address bar that invokes a bookmark. So I can type "hn" into the address bar, hit enter and it will take me to hacker news. In addition to that, the address bar consumes javascript. That means that you can set aliases for bookmarklets and for multi argument quick searches. So if I type "bm" (for bookmark) into the address bar, it will open the window to bookmark something on delicious. The same thing that would happen if you click on a delicious bookmarklet button... only you don't have to click on a button. And it will get synced when you set up Opera Link on a new install. And you can hook up any old snippet of javascript you can think of to such a command. 3. Find on page acts as an element selector. If you see a link on a page that you want to click on, you can do "Ctrl + F -> type in part of link name -> enter" to "click" on the link. I know that FF has extensions (vimperator?) to do something similar, but again... that's one less extension you need. In short, with a very small combination of extra features, Opera will save you a million mouse clicks with zero setup / configuration hassle. (I once wrote a blog post about multi argument address bar searches: http://www.pushingbits.net/posts/google-date-range-address-bar-search/ http://www.pushingbits.net/posts/google-date-range-address-b...)

planckscnst 15y ago
1: Firefox Sync 2: Don't really need it. When I type "h" into the address bar, Hacker News is the first guess. Similarly for other sites I frequent. 3: Firefox has done that (with no extensions) for as long as I can remember; it even goes a step further: you can search only links. Chrome also does this.
- Dysiode 15y ago
  3: Chrome has the benefit of showing where in the page the results are inside the scroll bar. Dark-magics I say.
- pushingbits 15y ago
  Yeah, and I know that for every feature someone cites for why they like Vim, someone will point out how the same thing can be accomplished in Emacs (and vice versa). But it's often just superficially equivalent, as is (part of) this list. 1. Last time I tried that, it didn't sync extensions, extension settings, or bookmarklet buttons (or other settings). Unless they started doing that now (and judging by https://services.mozilla.com/ https://services.mozilla.com/ it seems like they don't), it'd still be much more of a hassle to set up a new FF install to be equivalent. 2. This only addresses a quarter of the point I was making and even for that... I don't like semantic search because you have to scan the suggested result to check that the first search result is in fact whatever you expected it to be. When I type "hn" and press enter, I don't have to wait for semantic search to do its thing, I don't have to make sure that some other site that starts with "h" or has an "h" in the name took the top result spot (and what if you have multiple pages you visit often that start with "h"?), I KNOW it will take me directly where I want to go. I can do Ctrl + T -> hn -> Enter in a fraction of a fraction of a second, while reading something else on another monitor. 3. Hah, I did actually try it out in FF before writing that part of the comment. Of course, you first have to enable it in preferences (and it was disabled in my preferences for some reason, though judging by the documentation that's not the default). Anyway, thanks for pointing this out. :) Anyway, it's the combination and integration of little things that makes a big difference, not the little things themselves that might be replicated in some way in the other browsers minus the synergy. I know this is probably not obvious until you have really tried it yourself and the reflex reaction is to squint a lot and go: "My browser can do something very much like that, too!" or "It don't need THAT! It wouldn't make a difference." Give it a try. It does.

planckscnst 15y ago

1: Firefox Sync 2: Don't really need it. When I type "h" into the address bar, Hacker News is the first guess. Similarly for other sites I frequent. 3: Firefox has done that (with no extensions) for as long as I can remember; it even goes a step further: you can search only links. Chrome also does this.

Dysiode 15y ago
3: Chrome has the benefit of showing where in the page the results are inside the scroll bar. Dark-magics I say.
pushingbits 15y ago
Yeah, and I know that for every feature someone cites for why they like Vim, someone will point out how the same thing can be accomplished in Emacs (and vice versa). But it's often just superficially equivalent, as is (part of) this list. 1. Last time I tried that, it didn't sync extensions, extension settings, or bookmarklet buttons (or other settings). Unless they started doing that now (and judging by https://services.mozilla.com/ https://services.mozilla.com/ it seems like they don't), it'd still be much more of a hassle to set up a new FF install to be equivalent. 2. This only addresses a quarter of the point I was making and even for that... I don't like semantic search because you have to scan the suggested result to check that the first search result is in fact whatever you expected it to be. When I type "hn" and press enter, I don't have to wait for semantic search to do its thing, I don't have to make sure that some other site that starts with "h" or has an "h" in the name took the top result spot (and what if you have multiple pages you visit often that start with "h"?), I KNOW it will take me directly where I want to go. I can do Ctrl + T -> hn -> Enter in a fraction of a fraction of a second, while reading something else on another monitor. 3. Hah, I did actually try it out in FF before writing that part of the comment. Of course, you first have to enable it in preferences (and it was disabled in my preferences for some reason, though judging by the documentation that's not the default). Anyway, thanks for pointing this out. :) Anyway, it's the combination and integration of little things that makes a big difference, not the little things themselves that might be replicated in some way in the other browsers minus the synergy. I know this is probably not obvious until you have really tried it yourself and the reflex reaction is to squint a lot and go: "My browser can do something very much like that, too!" or "It don't need THAT! It wouldn't make a difference." Give it a try. It does.