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Opera Web Browser Tutorial
The Opera Web browser
currently ranks third among browsers worldwide. The product of Opera Software
of Norway, it was originally created for the Windows platform, but has
since been rewritten to be easily portable to many different operating
systems. It is currently available for Windows, Mac, OS/2, Linux, BeOS,
BeIA, Symbian OS, and QNX.
Advantages of Opera
Opera is most often
praised for being a compactly-designed piece of software, which has
made it a popular choice as an embedded browser on handheld devices.
In addition, its install file is a much smaller download than either
Netscape or Internet Explorer (IE)-around 2 MB, vs. 15 to 24 MB for
Netscape or IE. From a dial-up connection of 44 kb/s, the Wave Report
was able to download and install the latest version of Opera on a Pentium
II with Windows 98 in under 15 minutes. Opera has lower system requirements
than the latest versions of Netscape or IE, which makes it a good browser
for older machines.
Opera software touts
its browser as "the fastest browser on earth." Only a benchmark could
tell for sure. We noticed no difference between it or IE on either a
dial-up or T1 LAN connection, although both were significantly faster
than Netscape 6. Results were similar during start-up and loading the
home page.
A final aspect of
Opera that many see as an advantage is its dedication to open standards,
and its strict adherence to published standards such as HTTP, ECMAScript
(standardized JavaScript), etc. Many developers dislike the way other
browsers, particularly IE, treat advanced standards such as Cascading
Style Sheets (CSS) or JavaScript. Both Netscape and IE seem to implement
certain standards differently from their published form. Some developers
believe they do so willfully, in an attempt to make proprietary what
should be open. Many of these developers champion Opera as the open
standard alternative.
Why Not Number One?
While the Opera
browser has several advantages over Netscape and IE, there are reasons
it is a distant third in the browser wars. First, it is not completely
free. While a free version is available for download and use, it contains
banner ads that are built into the browser itself. To remove them, it
is necessary to purchase a registered version of the browser for $39
US.
Second, the Opera
browser has lagged a step behind Netscape and IE in both features, such
as searching from the address bar, and support for advanced standards
such as XML, CSS, or Java. It is only within the last year that some
of these have been well supported, in versions 5.x of Opera for Windows.
Since most Web developers work with either IE or Netscape (often both),
there were often compatibility problems between Opera and complex web
pages--a problem excerbated by the often non-standard ways in which
IE and Netscape treat such features. We found that Opera 5.11 did not
fully implement the CSS or JavaScript on several Web pages, but that
the new 6.0 beta version did. Opera and its supporters hope that this
new version will close the feature and compatibility gap with IE and
Netscape.
Opera History
In 1994, two Norwegians,
Jon S. von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy, developed a Web browser while
working for the Norwegian telecom company Telenor. When Telenor decided
not to use the program, they left to start Opera Software in 1995, and
introduced the Opera browser as shareware for the Windows platform in
1996. In 1998, in an effort to expand their market, Opera Software began
a project to port the browser to many different platforms. In 2000 the
project succeeded, as the Opera browser was selected for use as the
embedded browser for the Ericsson HS210 Cordless Screen Phone, and Psion
and Screen Media information appliances. At the end of 2000, Opera made
their pay-for-play browser available for free download, but in a version
that included integrated banner ads.
More Info:*
Opera
Software
ZDNet
review of Opera 5.01
Search
Engine World's Opera Page
Extensive (but breathless) coverage of Opera 6 beta release
C|Net's
review of Opera 5.0
*The Wave Report is
not responsible for content on other sites.
11/16/01
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