Opera 10.5 Alpha Coming Tuesday

Download Now: Mac and Windows


Read about the Carakan Engine

 

Speed? There can never be enough speed

Can't wait until these improvements transition over to the regular releases. Thanks for the news, Jayayess1190!

 

A few things stop me from using Opera:

1. Scrolling is too fast. Chrome and FF scroll perfectly (especially FF), but Opera is too fast. I could change the touchpad settings, but then other browsers will be messed up.

2. Memory usage. Opera always starts low, but then it gets high and doesn't drop. FF does the same, but if I close a tab, the amount of memory drops.

3. Opera Link. It remembers my speed dial and bookmarks, yet never passwords. Why after a first install I might come to a site like NBR which I've entered my user name and password on in a previous version, and should be saved by Opera Link, does the wand not show up for me to press?

4. Blocking ads. Some sites it works great, others they reappear after a page refresh.

Every time there is a big new release I retry it hoping my issues have been fixed, yet they have not been. Otherwise I like it and am still waiting for FF/Chrome to steal the "fit to width" button.

 

1.- Can't comment on that, since I always turn off smooth scrolling (it annoys me) and love fast scrolling.

2.- Opera's memory usage does tend to get quite high with many tabs open, but it never feels sluggish, and I haven't had troubles with major runaway memory leaks.

3.- I've wondered the same. Perhaps they're afraid syncing passwords would compromise a user's security? I would definitely love it if Opera Link would sync passwords, though. Otherwise, I really, really love this feature.

4.- I've found that Opera's adblocking in addition to AdSweep works quite well.

It does seem like quite a few Opera features do get cloned in other browsers...

 

Maybe I'm just used to it, but I like Opera's scrolling. Whether I'm using a trackpad or a mouse with scroll wheel. IIRC Safari seemed really slow, but in casual use Firefox 3.0 and IE6 seem okay to me as well.

Rather valid. It does seem to vary. A couple times I've had Opera hit upon an obvious memory leak, where it gradually climbed to the full 2 GB per program (although Task Manager only reported 450 MB or so, memory usage fell by 2 GB when I closed Opera), and began behaving much more poorly as it neared 2 GB. But that's about twice in 30 months. And in general, it's not super memory svelte - IE6 is my common browser of choice if memory really is low (one tab also helps decrease the tendency to open up too much).

OTOH, I'm using Opera with 28 tabs open, and more closed than can fit on the screen, with Opera having been running for more than half a week with plenty of AJAX and Flash, and Opera memory use is 343 MB, and stability is good. So it really depends on what you're doing.

If you've got enough memory, though, this really becomes a non-issue. I have 3.5 GB on my XP 32-bit laptop, and thus never really have to worry about memory usage.

What Opera Link already does is a big factor causing me to use Opera. I agree it could certainly be better - what I'd really like is settings to be transferred, at least those that don't require a browser restart (such as turning on single-key shortcuts - I shouldn't have to manually do that as well if I'm going to be logging in to Opera Link). Not sure how I'd feel about password transferring, though. Yes, it would be convenient, but if I'm on a public computer, I don't really want password-remembering to be on at all. I'd probably turn that part of Opera Link off if it were added in the future.

As for the wand, I prefer to use the Ctrl+Enter shortcut - one of the other great things about Opera is its efficient keyboard shortcuts, and the ability to change them if other settings work better for you.

Can't say much about ad-blocking, as I don't use it much. I would if I used IE - there's enough takeover ads for IE that I'd want it - but with Firefox, Opera, or pretty much any non-Trident based browser ads don't seem to be too much of a real problem for me.

I'll be looking into 10.5, though. The preview indicates Win7 jump lists/taskbar previews and private browsing, none of which I care about that much (using XP and all). The screenshot doesn't show any menu bar, though, which is intriguing. Can't say I'm a fan of that trend in Windows Explorer/Windows Media Player/Chrome/WordPad, although Office 007 pulls it off well. Then again, we'll see what it looks like better when it lands on Tuesday.

 

I remember using Opera some years ago, but switched to FF, because the memory usage was too high. Now FF has the same problem, but I'm not switching to Chrome until it becomes a more stable and mature browser, AND get's a real adblocker!

 

I'm a bit puzzled... Why are you saying it's too high? Did you actually get any problems because of it, or did you just assume that because it uses more than some arbitrary number, it's "too much"?

Opera dynamically adapts memory usage to the system, so it will use more if it's available in order to increase performance. If there's a lack of memory, it will use less.

Unless the memory usage is actually causing problems like slowdown and such (memory leaks), there is no real problem.

Firefox has a less flexible memory system with a hard limit on memory because it doesn't handle it as well as Opera.

Also, you should check memory usage over time. Opera does release memory eventually.

You might want to read this:

http://my.opera.com/mitchman2/blog/show.dml/167116

 

re Ad-Blocking:
I use this main-list:
http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/opera/
together with the Optimised Element Filter.

It works perfectly, you can even try the list with Stat/Tracking Sites, works, too but blocks too much for me.

 

fun statement when i look at the pic in the OP, and all is see is a copy of chrome

 

Actually, Chrome copied Opera's tabs-above-address-bar.

 

it sure did. just never saw it before chrome to be at the top of everything.

 

In the OP's screenshot, features that Chrome lifted from Opera:
1.- Opera's multi-purpose addressbar/searchbar
2.- Speed Dial: Chrome does have a slightly different implementation of it though
3.- Tabbed browsing
4.- Tabs above address bar
5.- Download manager

In that screenshot, Opera lifted private browsing, and arguably, the collapsed-menubar-into-button from Chrome.

Many people (not singling you out!) think Chrome/Firefox originated many of their features, when in actuality Opera pioneered them. This is because Firefox already has a huge user base, and because Chrome is made by Google, and is therefore much better-publicized than Opera. In Europe (particularly Eastern Europe and Russia), however, Opera is much more dominant.

 

opera didn't have the tabs above everything, last time i used it, which was not much before chrome launched. above adressbar, maybe? i don't remember.

 

Opera has had its tabs above the address bar for as long as I can remember, although it has added an option to collapse the menu bar into a button only in version 10.0 (although I hid it way before that using a config file customization).

 

well, and it was still below everything else (titlebar, menubar, etc..). now it's on top integrated in the title bar. that was a chrome's first.

we talk around each other

and no, if i do a quick google image search, the adressbar wasn't always the lowest ui component of the top, as well.

 

I am using 10.10 build 1893 and hands down it's the finest browser I've ever used (and I've been using Opera as my main browser for the last ~ 8 years). The UI, speed and resource usage are unbeatable. If they're going to make it even faster, then

As for tabs, I keep them at the bottom ; much easier for me to move between Opera and other Windows apps with the touchpad. Also, it's a result of habit, since windows clumps everything at the bottom. I like the contrast between the active tab and the other tabs in opera 10 as well as the mouseover tab preview...it's much easier to figure out what's happening. The default color scheme in v.9 was a bit lousy in comparison.

And I agree, many browsers stole features that were originally pioneered by Opera. Speed Dial for instance...Safari has some version of that now, while Opera introduced it quite a while ago.

 

Opera is fully customizable since ages, so it's possible that some screenshot had customized their panels. However, Opera put the tab panel above the adressbar a long time ago.

Yes, it was not the topmost item. However in Opera 9 you already had the option to hide the menu and put it in a button with a popup (buttons are freely available). So the tab bar became the top most panel.
With version 10 they integrated the menu in a button from the beginning on with a nicer popup menu.

The special thing in the above posted screenshot is probably not that the tab bar is the top most item, rather that they removed, as Chrome did, the huge wasted space with the Program title and instead integrated in the tab bar.

Well, Chrome or FF copies that many features from Opera, what's the problem with integrating a good feature in Opera used in a different browser, Opera can't invent everything, the others also have to invent a bit sometimes.

However, I just don't understand why people always compare Opera with Chrome. It's just not fair, poor Chrome

 

it was just fun to see how he posted "yeah, chrome stole from opera" while i looked at that pic and the first thing i saw was, o crap, opera has stolen from chrome

 

DOWNLOAD now, see first post.

 

I find the changes to be very impressive. Firefox, please catch up. I like you.
The interface does look very nice on Windows (minus the bottom, looks horrible), but the Mac version (Cocoa rewrite is awesome, one of the many reason Camino is great) doesn't seem very polished or as good-looking.
Of course there are skins, but that's a sub-optimal solution.

But hey, it's pre-alpha.

 

jump-lists are buggy
aero peek is annoying
crashed a couple of times

but very fast

it is pre-alpha, so instability is expected

 

Very good, i am writing this on it. Crashed 2 times at first(couple hours ago) but no more. If it continues stable might be my default, for a pre alpha that will be a first.

 

Opera wasn't supported by Wachovia for Online Banking...that's why I had to let it go...

Otherwise it was an amazing browser IMO. Right now I've got Chrome, Firefox, and IE8....

 

How is it on X64? Chrome crashed so much on my Win7 x64, so I switched back to FF...

 

first time for me i can say honestly i REALLY like opera. ive always thought it was nice but this is running well and super fast. i also have not had a single issue with it yet.. no crashes or anything. i am hoping for this to get to beta or dare i say final quickly i am a sole chrome user unless i absolutely have to open ie8. this maybe... maybe could replace chrome for me if they make it better than this is.

 

running perfect for me on win7 x64.. no issues at all

 

I am in 7 x64 too.

 

def something up with memory usage. just keeps on going up with more than one page open. and doesnt drop until i close it. with 2 pages open newegg and ebay my memory usage rose to almost 180mb and was using up to 10% of cpu at times with a t9900 laptop cpu..

any word at all when this might end up moving to the next stage?

this is very nice but imo not ready to be used for a every day browser. i wish it was i really like it

 

Well, it's not called "pre-alpha" for nothing

 

Still on it. No probs.

 

Ok, will try it then... But it's disappointing how the developers don't make an x64 build... The only one I can think of is IE x64... I know there's and unofficial x64 FF, but since there's no x64 flash plugins, it's no use

 

I have found the first consistent problem of pre-alpha: hangs with most pdf's

In image how my Opera looks with minimal cluter. Only added Save,Bookmarks,ClosedTabs Buttons to the address bar with that i just need the tab bar and adress bar and it is great tabs now can be over program bar not wasting space.

 

i have since had many issues of when opening the bookmarks it will crash opera after i added certain web sites to the bookmarks. when i remove them all is fine again. wierd issue and was sent to them to look at also.

 

do you have individual webpages that need >4gb ram? imagine how long such a page gets to download.

as all browsers in the long turn will have individual processes per tab, your browser of choise will easily exceed 4gb ram on a 64bit system. just not per tab.

that should be enough for a long long time.

but yeah, they could move to 64bit. then again, most browsers have enough problems to support one platform

 

That's a good point. If an individual tab is using > 4 GB in the next few years, there's something not quite right with that tab.

Once I found out this was pre-alpha, I decided to hold off for awhile. I've tried them before, and Midnight Sun is right - they're pre-alpha for a reason. About 11 months ago I tried an Opera pre-alpha, and it was the fastest browser I'd ever used. Then I noticed the "Back" button and shortcuts didn't work. Shortly afterwards I was back to the then-current stable release.

 

Opera upgraded to 10.5 beta. Fast and reliable for me.


http://www.opera.com/browser/next/