10 Features of Opera probably found only in Opera

[Anthon]

Some of these features are probably exclusive to Opera Browser.
I for one have used and admired these features and have realized that others appreciate them too. So for those of you who are interested in these features, please read...

1.

1. Cached image: Any website that you open has dozens of images embedded in it. It could be the site's banner, its background, the buttons, the small bars and all sorts of tiny images that make the website pretty to look at. Most of these images are superfluous and eats of lot of bandwidth without serving any purpose other than making the website look nice. Every time you open a page these images get downloaded. If you visit a site frequently that same images are downloaded every time you open that site. Now Opera has this nice little feature called cached image where the browser can load images from the browser's cache rather than from the site's server. This means that you save a lot of bandwidth since Opera doesn't download the images from the server. Let's see how much bandwidth you can save from the popular sites.

Site Size without images Size with images % bandwidth saved

BBC 42.6 KB 140 KB 70%
MSN 36.2 KB 239 KB 85%
Yahoo 111 KB 270 KB 58%
Digg 66.4 KB 373 KB 82%


Can you believe the figures? You better believe it. By browsing with cached images you can save 60% to 85% of your bandwidth!! This isn't only about bandwidth. The fact that your browser has to download 60% to 85% less bytes means that your pages open 2.5 to 6 times faster!! You can find this setting under Tools>Preferences>Webpages. There is also a button for it. More about buttons later.

2.

Go to URL: Often in some sites, usually forums, the url or the website address isn't hyperlinked. Which means that you have to copy the url and paste it in the address bar and hit enter. Opera makes this entire operation simple. highlight the url, right click and from the menu which pops up select Go to Web address - just two clicks!!

Here is a practical example for Opera users to try:

http://www.google.com

3.

Create search: Opera allows you to add your own custom search engines to your browser. Wherever you find Search on a website, just place your mouse pointer on the search box, right click and from the menu click Create search. Set a shortcut key for the search and hit OK. If you are fast enough the entire operation takes less than 3 seconds!! Beat that!

Bing is not added to the catalog of searches Opera has, so Opera users can test this here: Bing.com

4.

Search in address bar: In Opera you can search directly in the address bar. Just prefix the search keywords with the shortcut key I just told you about in the previous point. There are some default shortcuts like g for Google, y for yahoo, a for answers.com etc. For example, if you want to search say "backstreet boys songs", type "g backstreet boys songs" in the address bar and you will get Google's results.

Well this is implemented in Firefox and Google Chrome as well, but a nice feature none-the-less.

5.

Create buttons: If you use a certain feature of Opera and there is no default button for it to place it in the toolbar, don't be disheartened because there is Opera button maker that will make a button for you. Just select the function you want to use and set the necessary parameters. The button maker will create a button which you can drag it to your toolbar.

Here is a practical example for Opera users: 1) Go to http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/popout

2) bookmark the page with a name like GTalk or Google Talk etc...

3) Go to bookmark manager, right click the bookmarked link and check "show on personal bar" (select personal bar in View > Toolbar > and a button will appear with the link)

4) You can drag that to Panels or other tool bar to look something like this-->



6.

Stop executing script: Some websites pop up a javascript alert box whenever you make certain action on a site. For example, in some forums when you try to logout it pops up a box asking your permission. This can tend to become annoying. Whenever such a box comes up, look at the left hand bottom corner of the box for a check box saying "Stop executing script on this page". It does exactly what it says. Check the box and you won't be troubled any more.

Well every browser has this one.......

7.

Fit to width: This is very helpful if you are viewing a page that is too big for the monitor. For example, if you are viewing a page with width 1024 pixels on a monitor with resolution 800x600, parts of the page won't be visible and you have to scroll horizontally which is annoying. Press Ctrl + F11 to wrap the page to fit the size of the browser window. This feature is also useful if you want to compare two sites. Open both the sites in two separate windows, place both the windows side by side and fit-to-width both the pages. There is also a button available for this function which you can place on your toolbar.

Lots of other browsers have the fit to width feature but the page arrange feature where you can fit tabs side by side like windows in an OS.

8.

Click to select: If you want to select a certain portion of the text displayed on a site you don't have to drag the mouse all over the page. A double click will select a word, triple click will select a sentence andand one more click will select a paragraph. Most people are unaware of this feature.

The other browsers have this feature but it's very hand none-the-less

9.

Site preferences: Opera allows you to have different settings for different websites. You can allow javascript, images, plugins etc for one site while disable it for others. Some websites allow only a certain type of browser, usually Internet Explorer, to view the site and reject others. You can set the identification of Opera as Internet Explorer for only those sites that allow IE while for the rest of the sites your browser will be detected as Opera. There are lots of other features available under Site Preferences.

Now this is very versatile-->

10.

Widgets: A widget is a small program that runs on the desktop separate from the main browser and performs certain tasks. There are weather widget that get you weather reports, clocks, feed readers, games etc. You can find all kinds of widgets on the Opera site.

And the widgets are capable of running independently of the browser........

Most of Opera's features has been simulated in other browsers through the use of extensions or add-ons, but these are the features that you will find only in Opera. Even if some Firefox extension exist that does similar job, rarely do they work as great as Opera's, eg the "create search" Firefox extension.

I hope you don't take this as a bias post but as an informative post that helps you to be more productive while browsing..........

SOURCE

[khat17]

I've always said that Opera is the most customizable browser.

Firefox is the most functional - plugins/addons are there for just about EVERYTHING.

Netscape is for the old-skool people who just don't wanna change.

Safari (now on Windoze) is decent, but lost the "fastest browser" bid to FF recently.

IE is for the users who just use what's with Windoze.

[g2cris]

I'll remember #3. Alot quicker than what i used to do. Thanks for the info.

[Technoboy]

I have always admired Opera. My main gripe with it though is that it didn't have an aggressive option to battle ads such as ABP in Firefox. I know the option was there to block items on the page manually but it wasn't as seamless as ABP.

[Richardgm]

I have always admired Opera. My main gripe with it though is that it didn't have an aggressive option to battle ads such as ABP in Firefox. I know the option was there to block items on the page manually but it wasn't as seamless as ABP.

I haven't had ads in Opera in ages... Just update your urlfilter.ini

More info: http://my.opera.com/Tamil/blog/ad-block

[Technoboy]

Cool will revisit and see how it goes...