Opera 10 - Good News and Bad
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Over at ZDNet, it is being reported that the next major revision of the Opera browser will be “prettier”, as some of the users of Opera, especially those using it on the Mac platform, think it needs work.
Well, having not seen Opera 9.6 for the Mac, I suppose I can’t make the most informed comment, however, if the shoe goes on the other foot, I must say that Safari for Windows isn’t the [insert favorite female beauty here] of browsers either. In fact, I think Opera is a very nice looking browser, and can be fitted with many skins to alter the appearance to the user’s taste with very little effort. Opera is actually the best looking browser, in my opinion, and doesn’t have the corporate look of IE7, or the overly busy and colorblind look of Firefox (these are observations of the basic look, not after customization – still, Opera wins here too, as there are many skins that would make any artist or designer very happy, whereas IE7 is much less changeable, and Firefox has lost some of its best skins; many were never carried over to revision 3.
The bad news, for lovers of Opera, in its current state, is that the designer being called upon to do the redesign is the person who did the Firefox logo. Not that that look is bad in itself, but designers tend to stay with the same general styles, and Opera is not a remodeled Firefox, nor should it be. In today’s best political parlance, Opera was, and is, a maverick, and the user base will probably prefer it stay that way. Also, the surveys I’ve seen show that most users of Opera are both more tech savvy and less interested in interface beauty than other browsers’ user bases.
I guess we will see when 10 is released. If the interface departs too much with the current one the company will probably include a way to revert to the interface that users now know and love.
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5 Comments
leftystrat
October 14th, 2008
at 10:56am
Any big deal made over “pretty” sets off alarm bells, especially without many details on what I consider to be real improvements.
The fact that the Mac people were saying it needed to be prettier is its own punchline :)
I’m one of those people who just wants it to WORK. It seems to work pretty well.
Remember- prettier always means using more resources.
the oracle
October 15th, 2008
at 4:57am
Not always - but usually. I also use it because of the clutter-free way in which it works - now if only the rest of the world would get the message.
Thanks.
Opera 10: A look ahead
October 15th, 2008
at 9:40pm
Very informative, But after google Chrome let see what opera will get it’s market.
Kamalesh
February 10th, 2009
at 2:26pm
I’ve been playing with the latest alpha version of Opera10 for the Mac, and it’s a beautiful UI, I think.
As a long-time Opera user, I’m nervous about how UI changes may play out, since I like the minimalist design now (along with rewind/fast-forward and a million other unique features).
As far as the Chrome comment, I thought it was shameless of Google to copy-cat Speed Dial and top-ten lists from Opera…and not even acknowledge it.
Same story for 10 years, Opera innovates, the rest copy-cat them and act like it was an original idea. And a million FF/Chrome blog posts of white noise drown out any Opera mentions. Please.
the oracle
February 10th, 2009
at 3:35pm
Kamalesh, I was using the 10 alpha for Windows, and it is faster than 9.63, but it has problems, and so I’m back to the non-alpha.
I don’t follow the Mac development, but the Windows development (as far as releaases go) has stalled. A new Java system is in the works, and is said to be wicked fast.
I’ve tried all the others, and though IE8 is better than IE7, it is not Opera; nothing else is either.