Opera8 browser, nearly freeware.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roger Johansson
  • Start date Start date
R

Roger Johansson

From the Opera web site opera.com:

"Show the world that you use Opera. Put one of these
banners or buttons on your Web page.

As an appreciation of your efforts, you will receive a
registration code for Opera 8 for Desktop, automatically
once 250 unique referrals from your site have been logged."


Opera8 is out, and brings a lot of new features.

The most remarkable is the possibility of user javascripts.
It works like having Proxomitron built into the browser.
It can rewrite the html code of the web site before it is
presented on the screen to the user.

I am using it right now and it works as it should.
I created a folder for javascripts. Well, actually I made two,
jscripts and jscripts-inactive, so I can inactivate any script
by moving it to the inactive folder.
I downloaded a few scripts and tried them, and they work.

As before Opera is very configurable, toolbars and buttons can be
combined in any way you like, even the menus can be customized. The
easiest way to customize is to download a few nice skins and use what
you like best. Earlier the best skin was Breeze2 but now there is an
"Office 2003" skin which is even more minimalistic and nice looking.
Remove all toolbars you do not use, and all fields and buttons you
don't need.
Add your own buttons to the toolbars, and these buttons can be anything,
a web site, an Opera command, a program or a file in your computer,
a bookmarklet, etc..

In addition to all the customization choices in the program you can
also
edit a number of configuration files, and there are communities of
Opera fans on the web, and on opera.com, who share tips about
these hidden settings.

Membership in the opera.com community is free and a simple procedure
of giving a name and an email address, and you might want to give them
a real address, so you can receive replies to questions, free license
for
putting a button on a web site, etc..
http://my.opera.com/community/login/?newuser=true
 
Opera8 is out, and brings a lot of new features.

Yes, I switched from Mozilla/FireFox a few months ago to O8. I
wouldn't consider going back. One of the best freeware apps around.
 
Roger said:
From the Opera web site opera.com:

"Show the world that you use Opera. Put one of these
banners or buttons on your Web page.

As an appreciation of your efforts, you will receive a
registration code for Opera 8 for Desktop, automatically
once 250 unique referrals from your site have been logged."


Opera8 is out, and brings a lot of new features.

The most remarkable is the possibility of user javascripts.
It works like having Proxomitron built into the browser.
It can rewrite the html code of the web site before it is
presented on the screen to the user.

I am using it right now and it works as it should.
I created a folder for javascripts. Well, actually I made two,
jscripts and jscripts-inactive, so I can inactivate any script
by moving it to the inactive folder.
I downloaded a few scripts and tried them, and they work.

As before Opera is very configurable, toolbars and buttons can be
combined in any way you like, even the menus can be customized. The
easiest way to customize is to download a few nice skins and use what
you like best. Earlier the best skin was Breeze2 but now there is an
"Office 2003" skin which is even more minimalistic and nice looking.
Remove all toolbars you do not use, and all fields and buttons you
don't need.
Add your own buttons to the toolbars, and these buttons can be anything,
a web site, an Opera command, a program or a file in your computer,
a bookmarklet, etc..

In addition to all the customization choices in the program you can
also
edit a number of configuration files, and there are communities of
Opera fans on the web, and on opera.com, who share tips about
these hidden settings.

Membership in the opera.com community is free and a simple procedure
of giving a name and an email address, and you might want to give them
a real address, so you can receive replies to questions, free license
for
putting a button on a web site, etc..
http://my.opera.com/community/login/?newuser=true
I tried it in an earlier version. The ads were very distracting.
 
["Vic Dura"; Sat, 16 Jul 2005 21:56:16 GMT]
Yes, I switched from Mozilla/FireFox a few months ago to O8. I
wouldn't consider going back. One of the best freeware apps around.

I'm rather curious, I'll admit ...
 
Yes, I switched from Mozilla/FireFox a few months ago to O8. I
wouldn't consider going back. One of the best freeware apps around.
not freeware. ADware.
 
I tried it in an earlier version. The ads were very distracting.

I guess it's a matter of personal taste. Ver 8 has a single ad that
says "Buy Opera and get rid of this ad". That is the only ad
displayed. Since it never changes, I don't notice it anymore. I think
earlier versions displayed changing ads downloaded while you were
connected on-line, but ver 8 has a static ad.

Ver 8 is so good, I'll probably buy it anyway.
 
["Vic Dura"; Sat, 16 Jul 2005 21:56:16 GMT]
Yes, I switched from Mozilla/FireFox a few months ago to O8. I
wouldn't consider going back. One of the best freeware apps around.

I'm rather curious, I'll admit ...

I believe Ver 8 also has email and a newsgroups reader. I don't know
for sure since I use Agent for mail/news and it's been a while since I
installed ver 8.
 
Vic said:
I guess it's a matter of personal taste. Ver 8 has a single ad that
says "Buy Opera and get rid of this ad". That is the only ad
displayed. Since it never changes, I don't notice it anymore. I think
earlier versions displayed changing ads downloaded while you were
connected on-line, but ver 8 has a static ad.

Ver 8 is so good, I'll probably buy it anyway.

I'm trying it right now. Very good..
 
["Vic Dura"; Sat, 16 Jul 2005 21:56:16 GMT]
Yes, I switched from Mozilla/FireFox a few months ago to O8. I
wouldn't consider going back. One of the best freeware apps around.

I'm rather curious, I'll admit ...


I use Opera all the time, even when I'm evaluating others.

Here's my assessment:

Strong points -- full integration of everything (e-mail, news, browsing,
etc.) in one package, so that you have consistent keystrokes. I really
like it. Tabbed browser, very fast. Lots of active discussion forums.
Instant indexing of your e-mail, so that searches are very quick.

Bad points -- the e-mail component is, in my view, the weakest of the
suite. It takes a bit of a learning curve to get away from the
traditional folder idea. Instead, it uses "Views" -- and you have to be
careful how you set them up. You could inadvertently lose your "views"
when you empty the recycle bin. Very odd stuff, I don't much like it, but
I've gotten used to it.

On balance, I guess I like Opera better than all the others. Development
is ongoing, and it's available for nearly every available platform. Free
versions available, and they work just fine for me.
 
I guess it's a matter of personal taste. Ver 8 has a single ad that
says "Buy Opera and get rid of this ad". That is the only ad
displayed. Since it never changes, I don't notice it anymore. I think
earlier versions displayed changing ads downloaded while you were
connected on-line, but ver 8 has a static ad.

Ver 8 is so good, I'll probably buy it anyway.


I agree about the ad. I don't even notice it anymore. And, if you press
F11 for full screen mode, the ad goes away altogether.
 
Roger Johansson <no- said:
Opera8 is out, and brings a lot of new features.

One of which is that it now phones home silently and without permission,
and does not give a visible option to turn off this behaviour. It happens to be
a check for new updates but doing it silently and without the option to turn
it off(*) is not the action of a trusted application.

(*) Can be turned off by a manual edit to opera6.ini:
add Check For New Opera=0 under [User Prefs]

I'm less than impressed with this particular feature.
 
I just downloaded this program, and I really like it. I often have to
switch from Opera to another app -- my word processor, etc. -- and I
like having the icons right there for me to click on.

Thanks.

Although it walks a fine line between freeware/addware, I have used
the pay version for years...wouldn't use any other browser for
Windows. I really like the KDE longing skin, hehe
Been using Firefox on my Linux box, but I think there is an Opera ver
for Linux ?
/bLB
 
Vic said:
I guess it's a matter of personal taste. Ver 8 has a single ad that
says "Buy Opera and get rid of this ad". That is the only ad
displayed. Since it never changes, I don't notice it anymore. I think
earlier versions displayed changing ads downloaded while you were
connected on-line, but ver 8 has a static ad.

Ver 8 is so good, I'll probably buy it anyway.

Running ver8.01. I've been blocking the ads with my HOSTS file since at
least ver7. I still get the "Buy Opera" nag - not static but it's
hardly noticed. I see no way to turn ads off completely (without
$pending).

Jerry
 
JL Hotz said:
Running ver8.01. I've been blocking the ads with my HOSTS file since
at least ver7. I still get the "Buy Opera" nag - not static but it's
hardly noticed. I see no way to turn ads off completely (without
$pending).

Of course adware is off topic in this freeware NG.

I have been using Opera for years, and the ads don't bother me at all.
 
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