Browsers

A matter of style? Will it be able to take the place of other most used browsers?

If there is a singular browser, of course that is Opera. Much more particular than Internet Explorer, endowed as it is with a magnificent capacity to generate serious security flaws every time a user with sufficient knowledge takes a close look at it; certainly, also more particular than Mozilla Suite, the robust trinity application -browser, email client and web composer, three in one-, robust and efficient as an old Spanish galleon. I will not discuss the characteristics of many other browsers, such as Firebird -based like Mozilla Browser and Netscape Navigator on the Gecko engine-, Kmaleon or others from the same Gecko matrix. Nor is it necessary to mention the armors led by NeoPlanet, designed to add some extensions to Internet Explorer itself, but without correcting, of course, the mistakes made by the curious crew of Microsoft engineers.

I suppose that Opera has caught the attention of all users at some point, particularly because of the sound of its name. I was particularly intrigued by the good reputation it was gaining among Mozilla users, who come to consider it a kind of close relative, despite the fact that it is a commercial application for sale for 34 euros. This Opera-Mozilla familiarity is explained by several factors; among them, the common desire to gain a decent foothold in the market widely subdued by Internet Explorer, the venerable respect for the standards of the W3 Consortium, the extraordinary capacity for customization and certain good ideas that simplify and make web browsing more comfortable.

Granted, Opera has a good reputation and has the support of what can be the most abrasive users, when it comes to getting into discussions that pit the free community against Microsoft and its… (I guess so) browser. So you go to Opera.com and download the program in Spanish and try it out. You have two options, of course: pay for it -34 euros is a very reasonable figure, and I would say that it is well worth it-; or use the trial version, fully functional, but which includes, however, a large and hideous banner that not only hurts the eyes, but also takes up a large part of the visual space.

At first, after accepting the happy banner, one feels a little spiritual anguish, and that is that Opera has dozens of options that, instead of remaining hidden waiting to be discovered, make an appearance practically from the first moment. For example, the progress bar is active by default; This bar, unlike the simpler ones from Mozilla and Internet Explorer, provides a detailed display of file downloads -very similar to the progress data in the old Netscape status bar-, including number of files, size and in short, all the things that one normally does not intend to read.

One must get used to the idea that Opera is not an entirely simple application, if we intend to fully master it; it’s a good idea to be patient and give him space and some time. In the end, after a lot of testing and reading, one discovers the key pieces and can now navigate quickly without crashing into the program itself. Opera includes, among other things: tabbed browsing; mouse gesture identification, a functionality that transforms certain mouse movements into actions; e-mail client integrated into the program itself -it appears within the same window-: Opera takes care to explain that it is an absolutely new and never-before-seen client and invites you to read a short tutorial. It also includes the possibility of changing the decoration -traditionally, program skins were called “skins” in pseudo-browsers based on Internet Explorer and “themes” in Netscape/Mozilla-; a click away is a sort of flea market, located on the Opera portal, where creative-minded users can display their own designs. There are many and many of them are very attractive. Opera also includes the possibility of blocking unsolicited pop-up windows, suppression of scroll bars -if you have a mouse wheel, they are not essential-, and a long etcetera that can surprise you. In addition, it can be fairly said that Opera is a reasonably light application and, in fact, its download weight without java is less than 4 Megabytes. No one will deny that the engineers of the European company have done an admirable job.

Another spectrum of reasons for acquiring Opera, outside of computer motivations, has to do with a kind of small vanity. There is already a long struggle between users of the PC and Mac platforms; it is possibly false that one of them is more powerful than the other: rather, each is more beneficial for certain user ranks (and for certain pocket ranks, let’s be honest). In any case, there is a reason that is always fun and revealing, and that is that it is assumed that consuming a Mac is also a matter of style. Its design is careful and appetizing, like a polycarbonate candy. Something similar happens with Opera, and that is that its users show a singular pride in owning this program. In fact, the Opera.com portal has a large community designed to accommodate its exclusive buyers. Well, I must say that this is something I fully understand. Opera is a real gem.

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