FireFox or Opera ?

By murderdoll
in Web Browser Discussion & Support

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578 members have voted

  1. 1. FireFox or Opera ?

    • Firefox
      354
    • Opera
      224

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Community Regular

DrZoidberg

Posted
Posted

I've got Opera and FF on my PC. I tried switching to FF for a few days but found myself going back to Opera. Both are very good browsers, it's just that I prefer Opera.

Both have good security.

FF is probably more compatible, but I find very few sites that don't work in Opera.

Opera *seems* faster at rendering and loading, even compared to FF "optimized" builds.

FF seems to rely too much on extensions to provide basic functionality. Stuff like "Paste and Go", mouse gestures and "Reload every" are included in basic Opera.

FF has too many loud-mouthed fanboys who use it because it's cool. Sure, it's an excellent product, but it's hardly a religious movement, is it?

Opera has a better sidebar with more features.

Opera looks better.

Opera's "Insert personal" right-click context menu is a godsend when entering user names/passwords/etc.

Opera is more configurable.

All IMHO, of course.

Install them both, try 'em out. Then decide. Or just use both. Or just stick to IE and ignore the FF-Opera squabbles.

Grand Master

cork1958

Posted
Posted

DrZoidberg said it all, for the most part, pretty accurately, except for the part of "seems" faster. There is no doubt in my mind, it IS faster. Been using it for years now. Tried FF one more time a couple weeks ago. First thing I wanted to do was get rid of the default bookmarks FF has listed. Can't do it. Got rid of it. Not very customizable, IMO, right from the word go. Plus, I think it's rediculous to have to have all those extensions you need for browsing. There was a thread on here recently about "how many extensions do you have" and they were acting like it was a contest to have the most. Not what I want. The KEY thing for me is the cpu/system resource usage. Opera is definitely lighter on all my setups.

As an extra side comment, I sure do wish Opera was free, just to see how many FF users would jump ship then.

Neowinian

Nuryk

Posted
Posted

Personally I prefer to use Opera on whatever platform I'm working at (Windows/Linux/BSD), mainly because it's fast, and stable.

But most importantly, it has one thing that Mozilla Firefox does not have, full MDI browsing. Try using it for a while and compare tabbed browsing versus an MDI interface... I'd say go for Opera if you like that better or Firefox if tabbed is your thing.

Enthusiast

foobah

Posted
Posted

How about making up your own mind for once, and not relying on others to tell oyu which is 'cool' or 'better', eh?

I have tried both, and there is very little that Op can do that FF can't with extensions. FF appears to be a little slow for me on XP, but then it does render pages properly, and conforms to html/css specs much more than Op.

99% of the 'FF cant do this' comments are by people who just havent figured how yet (ever heard of www.google.com people?)

Sure, if you'd like to see screwed up pages, and pay for something that, like breathing, should be free, then try Op. IF you want a more secure browser, customizable to the hilt, renders pages properly and quickly, but is a little slow, currently, as it IS a preview release, then give FF a go.

Its your life, your computer.

You make your decisions.

Grand Master

temple_treefrog

Posted
Posted

I just installed Opera and I LOVE it!!!

For the past year I've been using Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox. I just installed Opera for the first time and it's so much faster and easier to use.

The browser is totally customisable (I mean more customisable than any other browser) and you guy's have no idea what your missing out on. :yes:

Its great ! :D

Check it out for yourselves..

Veteran

trigger_my_passion

Posted
Posted

Welcome to the club. Be prepared to be amazed by the lightning speed and lightness of Opera!

A quick tip if you don't know it already: 'z' takes you to previous page and 'x' to next (before you can blink) :yes:

I just installed Opera and I LOVE it!!!

For the past year I've been using Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox. I just installed Opera for the first time and it's so much faster and easier to use.

The browser is totally customisable (I mean more customisable than any other browser) and you guy's have no idea what your missing out on.  :yes:

Its great !  :D

Check it out for yourselves..

584810155[/snapback]

Neowinian

nekropia

Posted
Posted

I can explain why I use Opera.

The fact that everything is there when you install it. No need to browse through tons of crappy extensions to get things done. The fact that it's a tiny download and has all this power. It's so easy to install for your friends because it has everything you need when installed. With Firefox you have to spend ages setting it up to get the really useful features. My non-geeky friends go "uh, why are you doing all that crap?" when I install Firefox. But when I install Opera it's "wow, cool!" when I show them some neat tricks available right away.

So it's not so much that Opera has unique features, it's the way they are all integrated perfectly, and soooo easy to use.

And let's not forget the email client M2! Gmail modeled its email handling after the way Opera does it! Opera is like a Gmail for your PC, searches through thousands of mails in less than a second. I've tried it myself. Got 50K messages, and I get the search results INSTANTLY.

Experienced

carpediem

Posted
Posted

Funny how people throw around the word bloat when it comes to Opera, when by definition, if you would compare FF to Opera it's the opposite.

Software bloat is a derogatory term used to describe the tendency of newer computer programs to use larger amounts of disk space, more CPU power and/or more RAM memory than older programs. Software exhibiting this tendency is referred to as bloatware or, less commonly, fatware.
Collaborator

f0vela

Posted
Posted

I suggest you to try both. I use FF, and have tried Opera, but Opera can't handle some Firewall settings we have in the office.

FF can handle Extensions and Skins that enhance the browser, it's fast and very reliable.

Opera has some built in extensions that makes it cool, can't say anything more, 'cause I can't make it even connect to the internet through the firewall. :(

Experienced

carpediem

Posted
Posted

With Opera 7.6 i got

Opera 7.6x, Windows XP, 2.40-2.59GHz

7.06 seconds, Oct 26, at 15:33:48

ranking: 23 out of 465 testers

http://www.24fun.com/downloadcenter/benchjs/benchjs.html

I don't think Firefox comes even close to those numbers, coz Firefox isn't very good with Javascript... right?

EDIT: Just realized i was watching a movie on the screen as well as running bittorrent, so i ran the test again and got these numbers.

Opera 7.6x, Windows XP, 2.40-2.59GHz

6.63 seconds, Oct 26, at 15:39:05

ranking: 18 out of 466 testers

Grand Master

morficus

Posted
Posted
What do you think guys, i need prefromance comments, i know that opera costs money and ff is free but i need some comments on the prefromance ( ex: mem usage, speed ) ... many thanks in advance :)

584793263[/snapback]

** The X marks which one is better in each category**

FF | Opera |

--------------------------------

..X..|..............| Memory usage

..X..|..............| Load speed

......|......X..... | Browsing speed

......|......X......| Integrated features

......|......X......| user friendly hot-keys

..X..|..............| Popularity

..X..|..............| Customizable

I used Opera for a while, then tested FF for a while and I stayed with FF 'cuse it uses less memory.

The good thing about Opera is that it has a LOT of integrated features. FF has the same... but you need to download and instal plugings to get them (hence why FF is more customizable).

Also, Opera saves lots of stuff to the cache, so they load faster. FF does the same, but Opera handeles them better.

My sugestion is... if you have lots of memory or don't run more than 3 apps at a time... then use Opera. For some reason... after using Opera for about 30 - 40min, it starts EATING UP your memory.... FF only does that if you open LOT of tabs.

Grand Master

Toxicfume Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
** The X marks which one is better in each category**

FF  |  Opera  |

--------------------------------

..X..|..............|  Memory usage

..X..|..............|  Load speed

......|......X..... |  Browsing speed

......|......X......|  Integrated features

......|......X......|  user friendly hot-keys

..X..|..............|  Popularity

..X..|..............|  Customizable

I used Opera for a while, then tested FF for a while and I stayed with FF 'cuse it uses less memory.

The good thing about Opera is that it has a LOT of integrated features. FF has the same... but you need to download and instal plugings to get them (hence why FF is more customizable).

Also, Opera saves lots of stuff to the cache, so they load faster. FF does the same, but Opera handeles them better.

My sugestion is... if you have lots of memory or don't run more than 3 apps at a time... then use Opera. For some reason... after using Opera for about 30 - 40min, it starts EATING UP your memory.... FF only does that if you open  LOT of tabs.

584811569[/snapback]

Load speed is definitely owned by Opera, for me atleast, Opera loads in an instant here, while I hve to wait a littleless than IE for firefox to start. Customizability wise, opera is very very customizable, you can even go to sites that have custom buttons that perform custom made commands, etc. Populairty shouldn't be a category.

Seriously though, do people like..monitor their processes mem usage in the task manager every instant to see how much each browser specifically uses how much amount of memory? :s Whats the point of that when you don't notice a thing when you really just use it? I never feel anything being bogged down using opera, why do people even look how much memory it's taking when it doesn't have any obvious effect.

Grand Master

morficus

Posted
Posted
Seriously though, do people like..monitor their processes mem usage in the task manager every instant to see how much each browser specifically uses how much amount of memory? :s Whats the point of that when you don't notice a thing when you really just use it? I never feel anything being bogged down using opera, why do people even look how much memory it's taking when it doesn't have any obvious effect.

584812207[/snapback]

no obsious effect??

I'd like you to run MSN Messenger, Paint Shop Pro 8, RealOne and Opera (besides the background stuff like the firewall and antivirus) with 512mb... then tell me if you don't feel the lag...

I monitor my mem usage every time a instal a new app. I like to use my memory efficiently. :p

(call me a geek or what ever, but I will allways do it)

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