6 ms·

Opera was the most innovative web browser ever. They brought so many new things to the world of web browsing. Tabbed-browsing, mouse gestures, colored tabs, bro

Opera was the most innovative web browser ever. They brought so many new things to the world of web browsing. Tabbed-browsing, mouse gestures, colored tabs, browser themes, in-built security integration with anti-virus software, an extensible browser - so many wonderful innovative features. It was a paid software initially, but then they made it free for everyone. I used to use it as my default browser, maybe 13-15 years ago.

abfan1127 4y ago
its my default browser now. It still great!
- capableweb 4y ago
  Well, I used to love Opera as well, it was my first "serious" browser as I became a netizen. But now I wouldn't even dare to try it as it's owned by a consortium of Chinese investors, rather than a Norwegian company.
  - bityard 4y ago
    Vivaldi is pretty good and though it's based on chromium, is the new opera in spirit.
    - IndrekR 4y ago
      No coincience. Vivaldi is co-founded by ex-CEO and co-founder of Opera. I quit using Opera after he did not keep his promise to swim across the Atlantic in 2005: https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-boss-starts-atlantic-swim/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-boss-starts-atlantic-swi...
      - copperx 4y ago
        > I quit using Opera after he did not keep his promise to swim across the Atlantic in 2005: https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-boss-starts-atlantic-swi https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-boss-starts-atlantic-swi... Congratulations. This is the most persnickety HN comment I've read. And I've been here more than a decade.
    - dijksterhuis 4y ago
      I might try Vivaldi out after your comment and because of their completely sarcastic pricing section on the download page. Genius.
      - vorticalbox 4y ago
        Built in email and rss feeds are really nice as is the calendar base history page.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
r00fus 4y ago
Are you sure tabbed browsing was Opera? I mean, Mozilla browser (predating Firefox) had it in 1998.
- ricardobeat 4y ago
  Wikipedia lists Opera v4 having tabs in 2000, while they were added to Mozilla 0.9.5 in 2001: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(interface) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(interface)
- nidnogg 4y ago
  IIRC it was InternetWorks by BookLink Technologies According to: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/which-browser-invented-tabs-3-common-myths-debunked/ https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/which-browser-invented-tabs-3-...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- rch 4y ago
  Opera also had tab groups, MRU tab switching, and saved sessions. Those exist in some form or fashion now, but the implementations are not as smooth.
- vikingerik 4y ago
  Mozilla had multiple documents first, by just following Windows' MDI standard. Then Netscape and IE got into a war for mindshare, and part of that was to ignore MDI and splash their browser windows all over the taskbar instead, to be more visible and grab more user attention. Tabbed browsing was never a new invention, it was just a re-implementation of what we already had by way of MDI.
renke1 4y ago
Spatial navigation is a feature I really do miss. I don't think any other browser supports this. It made keyboard-based browsing possible without resorting to stuff like hit-a-hint. You could just hit Shift+Arrow Key (which I mapped to the home row) and select a the nearest link (or anything interactive) in that direction. I think it worked in a visual fashion so order in the DOM didn't matter at all. It behaves exactly like one would expect.
- stavros 4y ago
  The Opera CTO is now building Vivaldi, which is basically Opera. It has all the features I remember (spatial navigation, mail/RSS client, gestures, split tabs, etc) and is very good.
oliwary 4y ago
Something I really miss from Opera is that the content of every page you visited was saved and stored for search! This helped me so often to find pages that I had visited, and remembered a few words from, but didn't bookmark or save otherwise. No idea why browsers today did not copy this feature.
- BMorearty 4y ago
  What an amazing idea! I would love to have that feature.
- copperx 4y ago
  Web browsers are strange. They are sophisticated pieces of engineering, but they refuse to implement the lowest hanging fruit features UX wise.
  - oconnore 4y ago
    They are built by people who are excited about the web, so it sort of makes sense that anything off the critical path of: “make websites and web applications great” would be deemed less important. Why make local search when there is a web application called Google? Ferraris probably aren’t know for having sufficient cup holders.
  - llanowarelves 4y ago
    A cynical take is that they purposely hold back bookmarks/offline-search so that you use their web search engine instead.
Kerbonut 4y ago
Text reflow on mobile browsers. I still miss that feature and much prefer that with desktop mode vs crappy mobile mode sites.
- rjh29 4y ago
  "Reading mode" is still very much a feature of mobile Chrome and Firefox, and almost a neccessity.

abfan1127 4y ago

its my default browser now. It still great!

capableweb 4y ago
Well, I used to love Opera as well, it was my first "serious" browser as I became a netizen. But now I wouldn't even dare to try it as it's owned by a consortium of Chinese investors, rather than a Norwegian company.
- bityard 4y ago
  Vivaldi is pretty good and though it's based on chromium, is the new opera in spirit.
  - IndrekR 4y ago
    No coincience. Vivaldi is co-founded by ex-CEO and co-founder of Opera. I quit using Opera after he did not keep his promise to swim across the Atlantic in 2005: https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-boss-starts-atlantic-swim/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-boss-starts-atlantic-swi...
    - copperx 4y ago
      > I quit using Opera after he did not keep his promise to swim across the Atlantic in 2005: https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-boss-starts-atlantic-swi https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-boss-starts-atlantic-swi... Congratulations. This is the most persnickety HN comment I've read. And I've been here more than a decade.
  - dijksterhuis 4y ago
    I might try Vivaldi out after your comment and because of their completely sarcastic pricing section on the download page. Genius.
    - vorticalbox 4y ago
      Built in email and rss feeds are really nice as is the calendar base history page.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]

r00fus 4y ago

Are you sure tabbed browsing was Opera? I mean, Mozilla browser (predating Firefox) had it in 1998.

ricardobeat 4y ago
Wikipedia lists Opera v4 having tabs in 2000, while they were added to Mozilla 0.9.5 in 2001: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(interface) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(interface)
nidnogg 4y ago
IIRC it was InternetWorks by BookLink Technologies According to: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/which-browser-invented-tabs-3-common-myths-debunked/ https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/which-browser-invented-tabs-3-...
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
rch 4y ago
Opera also had tab groups, MRU tab switching, and saved sessions. Those exist in some form or fashion now, but the implementations are not as smooth.
vikingerik 4y ago
Mozilla had multiple documents first, by just following Windows' MDI standard. Then Netscape and IE got into a war for mindshare, and part of that was to ignore MDI and splash their browser windows all over the taskbar instead, to be more visible and grab more user attention. Tabbed browsing was never a new invention, it was just a re-implementation of what we already had by way of MDI.

renke1 4y ago

Spatial navigation is a feature I really do miss. I don't think any other browser supports this. It made keyboard-based browsing possible without resorting to stuff like hit-a-hint. You could just hit Shift+Arrow Key (which I mapped to the home row) and select a the nearest link (or anything interactive) in that direction. I think it worked in a visual fashion so order in the DOM didn't matter at all. It behaves exactly like one would expect.

stavros 4y ago
The Opera CTO is now building Vivaldi, which is basically Opera. It has all the features I remember (spatial navigation, mail/RSS client, gestures, split tabs, etc) and is very good.

oliwary 4y ago

Something I really miss from Opera is that the content of every page you visited was saved and stored for search! This helped me so often to find pages that I had visited, and remembered a few words from, but didn't bookmark or save otherwise. No idea why browsers today did not copy this feature.

BMorearty 4y ago
What an amazing idea! I would love to have that feature.
copperx 4y ago
Web browsers are strange. They are sophisticated pieces of engineering, but they refuse to implement the lowest hanging fruit features UX wise.
- oconnore 4y ago
  They are built by people who are excited about the web, so it sort of makes sense that anything off the critical path of: “make websites and web applications great” would be deemed less important. Why make local search when there is a web application called Google? Ferraris probably aren’t know for having sufficient cup holders.
- llanowarelves 4y ago
  A cynical take is that they purposely hold back bookmarks/offline-search so that you use their web search engine instead.

Kerbonut 4y ago

Text reflow on mobile browsers. I still miss that feature and much prefer that with desktop mode vs crappy mobile mode sites.

rjh29 4y ago
"Reading mode" is still very much a feature of mobile Chrome and Firefox, and almost a neccessity.