So whats the deal? Firefox vs Opera?

Which is really better...in an overall way.

Im a die-hard firefox user and wont probably ever switch, but I never tried Opera and wanted to know if its really "better" then firefox as people say...

 

Firefox is better. Some pages have issues with Opera =/

 

I agree...I used to use Opera, but some of the pages don't display right and some others I couldn't get to. I have yet to have this problem with FF.

 

FF has issues displaying some sites too. Not to burst your bubble.

 

Yeah. But Opera has more issues than FF
Even IE has issues displaying sites =p

 

It's Opera or nothing.

Been using it since ver 4. (using 8.52 now. Ver 9 is in beta) It used to have a lot of issues with sites but that is pretty rare now. Opera is faster and easier to customize. I quit using Firefox because after I customized it to be similar to how I used Opera, it just turned into painfully slow bloatware. The way that customization is supported and managed is clunky. Also it is easy to edit the customizing aspects of Opera and then to back them up. There is just a small handful of small files that I back up to preserve all of this so a reinstall or installation on another machine is instant and complete. Much more complex with FF.

Thats my €2 worth (aha just found a way for this Canadian to use that "€" key on my 8204)

 

I like them both, but I use firefox more, sometimes I forget about the tabbed browsing only in opera and accidentally close everything (is there a way to fix this to open in separate windows instead?) Other than that I like both of them, and haven't found a site that didn't work on either yet (with the exception of one which I don't use anymore).

 

I used FF first, then tried Opera.

In my experience, Opera only looks better than FF but you won't get all the options that FF offers (with the extensions, of course).

People say that the Out-of-Box features of Opera, make it a better browser but for me, the freedom to do as much as I want with FF has no comparison.

It all comes down to preferences I think.

 

What do you mean bloatware?


So the majority say firefox is better yeah?

 

firefox here. never used opera before though.

some issues with firefox are that sometimes it wont display pages from microsoft. i think microsoft functionality extension in the form of web site would be better implemented in ie. things like windows update, windows sus...

anyone has any experience with new ie 7 beta yet?

later,
sky

 

I would really like to use Opera because it seems a lot lighter than Firefox, but there are just a few things that Opera lacks that I can't do without (for instance, the ctrl+enter or shift+enter shortcuts).

 

You can create them in Opera yourself..

 

You really have to try them both and decide for yourself.

I like both. I was using FF a few versions ago and it was buggy. At that point I swapped over to Opera. I've been on it ever since. They both get the job done so it's really a matter of what you prefer.

I prefer a compact browser as I also use this on my keydrive and prefer to have a uniform interface when swapping from desktop to desktop.

 

I actually have 4 browsers on my pc (IE, Netscape 7.2, latest FF & Opera). I use Opera the most because:

1) It Saves Sessions (I'll typically have 10-50 tabs that it remembers at launch). If there is a crash for some reason it remembers last session as well.

2) If I close Tabs & want them back quickly- go to Trash & get it back..

3) True Full Screen Mode with F11-easy to get nothing but the webpage filling the screen without extra clicks.

4) Opera Zoom for high res monitors.

5) Voice.

Only thing I wish Opera had that FF has is the Find Function Highlight which rules in FF.

I'm curious if the people who keep saying FF is the best actually ever use any of the aforementioned features of Opera?

Also FF was always free while Opera only became free relatively recently so I understand why that helped make FF so popular.

In any case I still use them all, just Opera more than FF typically.

 

Many of those features can be found in firefox.

For instance, TabMixPlus can not only give you MASSIVE control over tabs, but it saves sessions as well, and gives you control over how/when they are saved. I'm also pretty sure you can revert closed tabs in firefox. Not sure about the others.

I like both. I use firefox the most just because I like the interface better and more pages are drawn correctly on it than Opera (personal browsing experience).

 

I'm talking about standard features upon install, no plug-ins, extensions, etc..

 

I love Opera myself, but I think FF is much more customizable. I've tried them both and used FF for a while, but found Opera faster on my connection.

 

I'm an Opera fan. Started using it a few months ago and love it. I actually never have any problems with Opera failing to display pages right and it will work with some websites like that for my online class which previously only worked with IE. It blocks pop ups on its own, and the magic wand button next to the refresh/stop button is way cool. It's quick and seems to be light on the resources. I've used firefox and I like it well. No offense to anyone here, I'm not taking a shot at anyone here. I know its petty. But another reason I use Opera is just to be different. At school I seem to be surrounded by Firefox-fanboys that are slowly driving me to hate firefox.

 

You should have made this into a poll!!

Im a big FF fan but Im using Opera now because FF was either buggy (latest v1.5.0.2 is known to have caused a few issues) or it got infected with a virus. In any case im using opera now and it is faster, noticeably faster than FF. Not only starting up but rendering pages aswell.

The only thing i miss is Adblock as i absolutely detest ads. Ive made my own block file but that sometimes works/ sometimes doesnt work. Strange. Apart from that im now an Opera fan.

Are there any options to change stuff like pipelining?

 

Test them both out using all their functions for at least a week and then decide. That'd give you a good enough experience with both to decide.

I notice that Opera seems to be a good bit faster than FireFox, it doesn't have close to the amount of extensions as FF though.

 

seems like everytime i check the forum, there's someone whose comparing the two browsers. i say use whatever you are the most comfortable with. i like opera better. just quicker, i like one of the skins made for opera, the quick download function, etc.

 

Hey Yellow, just wanted to ask you a question regarding Oprea 9.0b. Have you used it? if yes is it stable? or better than v8.54?

Cheers

 

OK, I want to know how to use the Euro sign on the 8204 so I can impress my French colleagues.

 

I'm not sure how that relates to the thread topic, but go to start, programs, accessories, system tools, and then character map. That should work unless you reformatted, or they for some reason stopped giving that out.

 

We have had plenty of polls already on this topic...so a discussion was more in order .

I tried out Opera, I didnt quiet like it....but then again I was biased because Firefox is awesome .

 

Thanks, Reize.

 

I don't know what the issue is with Firefox on my notebook. I must have configured something that has limited my ability to use it. I have even gone so far as to uninstall each extension, uninstall Firefox, run RegCleaner and CCleaner, and then reinstall everything.

With that level of frustration, I have migrated over to Opera. With the features, such as Voice and the built in translator (useful for some sites), tabbed browsing and, now, Widgets, I find Opera to parallel Firefox in functionality. I especially like the ability to automatically size a web page pushing CTRL-F11 which is something that Firefox could not do. It is especially helpful on the sites that need translations.

 

Nice reawakening a old topic.
To contribute:
I use firefox, cause of the customizability. It blocks all the ads, great pop-up blocker, i love saving my sessions and when I f-ed up and close a tab, all i have to do is middle click the tab bar and it restores the tab.
-Ham

 

I have to say I really like the latest version of opera, it feels much better to use. Probably because its got a built in version of my favourite FF extension - adblock! I really like the "tab preview" you get when you keep the pointer over the tab and get a picture of the web-page, can FF do that?

 

how big is the preview? is it actually readable? why not just click on the tab instead. The title of the tab is enough for me to know what it contains.

 

Kept switching between Opera and Firefox. Firefox was better for a while, but now i like Opera much more. It is my primary and only browser.

 

I use Firefox though I like Opera better and is better in my opinion. The only problem with Opera is that it used to handle java poorly and I am accustomed to clicking on the Firefox icon. I think its java support is much better now. Firefox is a huge memory hog. The amount of ram it uses gets pretty ridiculous sometimes.

 

Does anyone here have 3 different browsers installed besides me? =p personally, i like opera 9 the best then firefox and internet explorer 7 is 3rd on my list.

 

i g0t 4 !!
1.firefox
2.ie6
3.opera
4.maxthon
and they are all good i like ff n ie6 the most

 

I like using avant browser (avantbroswer.com) I think it uses IE and just uses a different GUI because its less than 1 mb and it uses the favorites from IE. You guys might wanna try it. As I said its like IE but with a differetn GUI

 

i have used firefox and opera both extensively (and ie too, for that matter.) and besides for a very few small features, opera is better in every way, ESPECIALLY opera 9. (before 9, i don't think i'd have made that last statement.) opera does everything (more or less) that firefox does, (although to be fair, the reverse is (more or less) true as well.) and;

A) It's Faster.
B) less of a system hog
C) it has more features (allows greater customizing as well)
D) has a much better file downloading system (that may be an opinion)
E) addons and customizations do not (as far as i can tell) noticeably alter performance speeds.

it MAY require sliiiiiiiightly more tecchie aptitude to get the most out of it, as compared to firefox (perhaps one of the reasons ff is more popular?) but it is really really worth it.

if you only try ff and say it's the greatest, you're really cheating yourself (and others). if you tried both, then of course you have the right to an opinion, but don't form an opinion based on lack of knowledge.

anyyyyyyyyyyyyyyways. give 'em a try you never know. i know a friend who tried both and swears that ie6 with metaproducts download express (btw, an insanely awesomely free great download manager if you happen to need one) is the greatest and disdains both ff and opera. so, in the end, it;s just a matter of taste.

woo~. hope that was entertaining, cuz it sure was long.

 

I use both Firefox and Opera. I used Opera 8.52 for a while because Firefox 1.5 was giving me a lot of problems crashing. I grew to love it and it became my primary browser, and then I switched to Opera 9 Beta when it was released, and loved it even more. But since it has become the official release, I don't like it as well. I never really did like the skinning feature, cause it doesn't seem to look as nice as Firefox themes. But at least it doesn't require you to restart (I hate that about FF). Firefox is still giving me some crashes now and then, and while I still do prefer Opera in many respects, Opera 9 has been giving me a few troubles since I downloaded it as well. It likes to open EVERYTHING in a new tab, which is annoying for media pages such as watching videos on IGN. Firefox seems to be a bit smarter in this area. In addition, some flash sites don't work (Dell's site being one). The flash demos for each computer don't load in Opera. And for some reason, everytime I go to my email site and login, it says I need to enable cookies in my browser, but I set Opera to use all cookies. Don't get me wrong, FF has its faults, and it is noticeably slower at times. My main beef is that it keeps crashing on me for no reason. I'll just be sitting there reading the message boards, and CRASH! It's gone. I don't know what the problem is. But overall, it's general web page support is far greater due to its greater popularity, and that's what concerns me most. Why should I care if Opera gets me to the web page faster if it doesn't show up properly?

 

I also have 3 right now... Opera 9, Firefox, and IE6. IE7 won't install on my computer for some reason that I have yet to figure out.

 

I've used Opera and IE, but I always end up going back to Firefox just because I hate not having all of the extensions and search engines right there. I can't get IE 7 to work on my machine for some reason either.

 

Some thoughts from a FF user .... (with a KIS philosophy)

- I love this site for all your good information including this browser review

- Have always disliked IE

- So always used Netscape, it worked for me

- 2 months ago I downloaded new Netscape Version, didn't like it because they removed the html editor, "Composer" and it was getting very slow.

- started using FF, it's fast and simple, I do like it, with 1 exception ... no html editor.*

- I have NOT had any web site load problems with FF 1.5.04, (except McAfee updates, OK now)

- after tweaking all the setting and preferences,add-ons, I be DONE, it works, so I never needed to try Opera.

- If Opera has a html editor*, I would take a look.

* HTML Editor - I know there are a ton out there, but this is why I liked the one built into Netscape.

For my Web site, that only needed occasional UPDATES, I simply ...

- went to the page
- clicked on "Edit Page"
- made my changes
- then clicked on 'Publish"
- it automatically uploaded any new files (jpg/giffs,etc) and updated

DONE in less than 1 minute, ALL within the browser, without starting some bloated HTML editor with "5,000 new amazing dazzling features".

(the URL address and PW to web site are saved in settings)

 

Opera is by far my favorite. It's the UI. The duplicate page functionality and the "paste and go" and dictionary search in context menu and even the scrolling...
oooh, and the "fit to page" thing.
mm, and I like how you can hit F4 to open that side menu with the notes and transfers and links and things.

(to that one guy): opera's got functionality very similiar to firefox's find bar thingy. you type a period then what you're searching for. and if you want the page to automatically scroll to subsequent instances of whatever you typed, you hit F3.

Mostly the only times I use firefox are for the (very rare these days) times when there's some strange issue with a given website, and for certain extensions. I do like FF's live bookmarks a little better than Opera's RSS support, though, they aren't really directly comparable. Opera seems to generally take less memory for me too, even when I don't have extensions installed. (not counting SessionSaver. that is always installed.)

IE is out of the picture because it's stupid and smelly.

 

I've been using Firefox for going on 2 years and love it. However, i try to be open-minded about it. When i got this notebook last week, i downloaded Opera first and planned to give it a try. After a couple of hours, however, i missed my extensions and switched back to FF.

What extensions? Adblock, NoScript, CopyPlainText, FlashBlock, IE Tab, etc.

In my brief Opera trial, i liked that it would restore all the tabs from the previous session I'm sure it can do lots of cool stuff. However, i'm familiar with FF and haven't seen a reason to switch permanently.

 

I have recently uninstalled Firefox for Opera. Opera for 90% of the websites and IE for those that don't support it.

 

Ut-oh, now in my second month of running FireFox, I am running into more and more Web sites that it will NOT function.

It won't run Yahoo Videos, just went to the PGA.com site and it wouldn't run the golf instruction videos at that site.

Tried IE ... worked fine. tried my good ol Netscape ... worked fine.

I'm opening Netscape when I need to edit a web page in Composer, I actually prefer the 'look and feel' of Netscape's Mail over FireFox / Thunderbird.

Maybe it's time for me to put up with the slow start-up of Netscape (7.1) and go back ? The only feature in FF I like besides the speed of start-up, is that it deletes all the temp files when you close it.

BTW - I have all of the media players up to date and have all the FF extensions / plug-ins, (or so it tells me). Even when a web site says, "you need an additional plug-in, INSTALL MISSING PLUG-IN?" , I click to get it, and it says," No Suitable Plug-Ins Found"

Maybe I'll check Opera out, many here seem to like it ... but I would bet there will be a compatibility lag there for a few years as well?

I'm a one browser man, there are enough settings and preferences, bookmarks, addresses, network settings, blah, blah for one browser ... I don't want to fish between more and wonder which one has my bookmark for .....

Sorry, this turned into a bit of a rant.

 

Firefox for me, I have never used opera before, but I just decided to try it

 

i vote for firefox. dont ask me why ,its just gives me a beter feeling

 

I've been using firefox for a long time now, and about a month or two ago I decided to try Opera. I was impressed, I like the interface more than firefox, but there was one thing that made me stick with firefox. The Adblock Plus extenstion. When I use firefox, 99.9% of the advertisements on websites are blocked. When I tried out Opera, there was an ad blocking feature, but you actually had to select the ads on the web page manually and block them yourself, which was a real pain. I would use Opera if it had automatic ad blocking. Did they, or will they ever add this feature?

 

Aero, why isn't this a poll?