Opera browser

[Thomas Bennett]

On Wed, 2005-01-12 at 17:59, Hill, Holly K wrote:
> I have to put in a major caveat about Opera. It is NOT free. A seat is
> $39.00. 'Free' Opera requires you to accept banner advertising on
> every page, which really does slow performance. 
> 
Not in your case but in education, the site license is now free but I
don't know if you can totally get rid of the banner under that license. 
They do advertise you can send your own messages out on the banner such
as university announcements.

I disagree about the banner advertising _really_ slowing down
performance.  It changes very quickly on my all the installations I
have, Linux and Windows.  On a modem connection it probably would but
thats the connection not the program.  The banner ad, which is no taller
than the buttons across the top and less than half the width of the
window, is much easier to tolerate than popup ads everywhere.  XP
service pack 2 now incorporates the option to turn on or turn off
popups.  Opera allows you choices 1)Open all, 2) Open in background, 3)
Block unwanted popups, 4)block all.  Number 3 only opens popups from
links you click on, I find this very handy.  Mozilla can allow popups on
a per site basis, I don't know about Firebird's options.

> And having a built in IRC client is not necessarily something you want
> in a library setting. 
> 
Buld your own distributrion from their WEB site and don't add in IRC, I
think you can do that, and run in Kiosk mode.

> And doesn't the mail client download to the client PC? Again, not
> something you want out on the floor.
> 
Any pop client, except WEB, will download to the PC.  Opera supports
IMAP also. In IMAP Opera "by default only downloads headers".  Again,
you can probably build your own distribution without mail if that is
what you want.

> For personal use, Opera can be good. I wouldn't trade my Firebird for
> it, though. I used Opera for several versions (and I paid for mine),
> and finally gave up on it. Too many web sites didn't render properly
> -- I know, that's a problem with the html, not Opera, but the user
> doesn't care where the problem lies, they just want to be able to get
> where they want to go.
Firebird is a browser and a very good browser from all I hear, it would
be more accurate to compare Opera to Mozilla, a suite.  You are correct
on the rendering but I think newer versions are more tolerable to bad
html or authors have become more conscientious about standards. I've
found several sites which require IE only so you still need that or not
view those sites.

> Pity me, who's forced to use Explorer here at work :-(
I do ;-)
> 
>  
> Holly Hill
> Barr Memorial Library
> Fort Knox, KY
> www.knoxmwr.com
> 
> 
>  Opera Show ( http://www.opera.com/support/tutorials/operashow )lets
> you create powerpoint like presentations with just CSS and HTML.  The
> previous URL, when viewed in Opera, will show you a presentation when
> in Full Screen mode and a regular WEB page when out of full screen
> mode because of the CSS or CSS like tags, You can set background
> images even.
> 
>   RSS Reader support is built-in not a plug-in and it puts an icon in
> the right side of the address bar if a rdf file is availble and lets
> you subscribe.  Also built-in is email and chat.  The email client had
> spam blocking built in a version or two ago.  And, kiosk mode is a
> command line switch away.  You can even build your own distribution
> from their WEB site with your settings and splash screens.
> 
> 
>   A press release dated today announced "Students surf safely with
> Opera: Opera site license free for educational institutions" .  See:
> http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2005/01/12/   Build your own
> distribution with school or company color skins and send announcements
> on the communication banner.  You can save a set of tabbed sites as a
> session with your own notes included.
> 
> And much more.  With all of these features, bells, and whistles they
> still advertise as the "Fastest Browser on Earth" and it is very fast.
> 
> Its available for Linux, Mac, Windows, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, QNX,
> and mobil for PDAs and Cell phones.  Use shift-F11 to view a WAP
> version of a WEB page to see how it is seen on PDAs and CellPhones.
> 
> Try it, its FREE.
> 
> 
> Thomas
> 
>