Linked by Kroc Camen on Fri 18th Sep 2009 18:51 UTC
You all know that I don't particularly like Opera. I find the product to be lacking polish, over-complicated and without the marketing pizazz that has made Firefox a household name. That's just my personal opinion, and that opinion has garnered many complaints of unjustness. To that end, to present a fairer discussion I would like to put a simple question to the community: "What should Opera do?".
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Member since:2005-11-16
Yes it has its feel. I also mean the part where I say "daily user [rather, a normal user] can get accustomed to" -- gestures, manual dial configuration, voice control, unite server -- these are features that a techie user would use.
Personally I don't see anything wrong with Opera filling a niche as a 'techie' browser. Most people are happy with Notepad for their text editing needs, but there's still a market for feature packed editors that would confuse many users.
I'm not sure what more Opera can do to simplify its UI, without hiding some of its best features so deeply that most users would never find them.
For example, I see people complain about the sidebar panel being too prominent in the UI, but people who don't use it are missing out on unique and powerful features provided by the Links and Windows panels. To me having a little more (easily hidden) 'clutter' in the UI is a tiny price to pay to keep Opera's best features easily discoverable.
Personally, I use it for the visual tabs, mouse chording and the shift-based navigation it has. So yes, I *don't* want it to morph into 3D because like I already said, people would think of it as either slow or an IE extension.
One person's killer feature in day to day use is another person's unnecessary bloat. Personally I find visual tabs pointless (I tend to have too many pages open), and with the Windows panel I don't bother using tabs at all. To me Opera's MDI window management is its no.1 feature, but other people don't notice that at all.
Hard to see how it can be made one-size-fits-all without dumbing it down to the same level as other browsers, and if that's done then what's unique about Opera?
Despite the nebulous criticism of its UI from some people, I think Opera's main problem is marketing. In my experience it isn't that people think that Opera's an IE shell, or that it's slow and bloated, it's that people just don't think about Opera at all.
It'll never appeal to everyone, but I think that it's a fantastic browser, and I'm sure there are plenty of other people who'd love it if they actually gave it a chance. How to get them to do so is Opera's challenge...
Member since:2008-01-07
If it's a "niche" browser, it can't be expected to get a greater market share. The deal is not about it being a fantastic browser but about gaining more users. *I* am happy with opera with the way it is; and I'm NOT asking for more features. I'm saying it needs to have an alternative feel which general users can get accustomed to. Did I speak about the user interface? No. I'm talking about the user experience -- the other fluff like the animations in Safari, native the feel that Firefox gives, the simplistic look of Chrome.
Member since:
2008-01-07
Yes it has its feel. I also mean the part where I say "daily user [rather, a normal user] can get accustomed to" -- gestures, manual dial configuration, voice control, unite server -- these are features that a techie user would use. Personally, I use it for the visual tabs, mouse chording and the shift-based navigation it has. So yes, I *don't* want it to morph into 3D because like I already said, people would think of it as either slow or an IE extension.