Opera has just announced their latest web browser, Opera 7.5 Beta 1.
I have been using Opera since it’s version 5 sometime ago and it has been my default browser since version 6.
Opera succeeded to do what Netscape failed to do, convinced me there is a better browser out there than Internet Explorer.
I will tell you below what made me interested in Opera so much.
The few features that I liked are:
- Mouse gestures: You can just move your mouse, left, right, down-left, down-up, up-down to do certain actions like back, forward, close, new page, refresh, etc. It may take a couple of days before I can get the hang of it, but once I am used to the movement, I removed the toolbar since it is no longer necessary, thus giving more screen space for webpages. Another plus point is you won’t ever need to move your mouse to toolbars on top just to do standard actions such as Back or Refresh.
- Tabbed browsing: I usually open several webpages at one time, so tabbed browsing helps me to clear up the clutter of numerous windows in taskbar.
- Popup blocker: You can pick whether you want Opera to always open pop-ups, open them in background, open only pop-ups you requested, or block them altogether.
- Sessions: Do you open Soccernet, StraitsTimes, Blogdrive, and few other websites regularly everday? Opera Sessions can help you saving time by opening all your favorite website with a click of a menu. Really nice touch.
- Nicknames: Do you hate typing www.soccernet.com or www.blogdrive.com everyday? Save them to bookmark, and assign nickname to them, example “sc” or “bg”. So the next time you typed “sc”, it will know that you wanted to visit Soccernet.
- Slideshow: When you browse your friend’s photo album, moving from one picture to another does not require you to go back to thumbnail view and click the next picture. You can use Opera Fast Forward function, and it will know that you wanted the next picture.
- Others: Google built-in, integrated download manager, slideshow, Zooming and skinning ability, IRC chat support, and many more. Check here for complete list of features.
Although Opera sometimes suffers from not being able to show some webpages properly, I now realized that means that particular webpage does not adhere to HTML standard out there. That usually happens for websites created with many non-standard scripts. Most of the websites I visited out there rendered perfectly fine with Opera, so what are you waiting for? Download it now and try it to prove for yourself if it’s indeed the fastest browser on earth 
As usual, comments are very welcomed.
