I've used Opera as my primary browser and email client for years. I recommend Firefox to all my family and friends. I too often run into web sites that simply d

I've used Opera as my primary browser and email client for years. I recommend Firefox to all my family and friends. I too often run into web sites that simply don't work right in Opera, and I don't think anyone else wants to put up with the hassle. (Heck, the site linked from the "CSS Font Stack" item on the front page of Hacker News right now doesn't work in Opera.) One site, which I use to pay some medical bills, fails with Opera in such a way that the site appears to be down for maintenance. But opening it up in Firefox works fine. That issue had me confused for a while, and I like to think I'm savvier than the average bear, at least. I understand the appeal of the vision of a truly standards-based web, but I'm beginning to suspect it's just not workable. The various APIs are just too complicated. Perfect compatibility would mean getting even the bugs working the same way. The organizations that create and maintain websites will always have to triage their testing resources, and the smallest browsers will always be left out of the testing, and the smallest browsers will consequently demonstrate problems that will in turn keep their market share small. It's a situation that makes the success of Firefox and Chrome all the more astonishing, really.