Guess The Web Browser Game

Niche as in its suited to a very specific group. Not that the browser is specialized for one purpose but that it takes a specific person to use the browser.

I think the reason Chrome is so successful is because it's got such a simple "no nonsense" UI -- and some people find that restricting but most people don't care to mess with settings and the explanations in the options area make it very easy to understand.

Opera's UI is... customizable... but complicated and the default isn't appealing so it makes you work to get it the way you like. There are tons of options and its just overwhelming to the average user and they don't feel like wasting their time on it. Faster to just install another browser with fewer options.

 

Apart from the simplicity of Chrome, it's more likely to be because that Chrome is quite fast, stable & dependable. Not that Firefox isn't dependable, but Opera (which I quite like) always seems to be a tad buggy. If it isn't the favicons disappearing at regular intervals, it is breaking pages, or not loading properly. Even the Duck Duck Go homepage dropdown only works sporadically in Opera (usually needing a reloading of the page). If Opera ASA could fix all of these little niggles & promote it a bit better, it might be a real contender.

"I coulda been a contender ..."

 

I disagree, I don't see how it takes a specific person either. Yes, you're right, it does have a plethora of configurable options. But, unless you run into trouble, you're not likely to ever touch them (or unless you're a tweaker..but many options doesn't restrict users, it opens the browser up to more crowds). Opera can , again, barring issues, be left as is. Could all those options be slightly overwhelming to some? Perhaps, but, don't you agree that at some point users need to make an attempt to read FAQs' and help files? Or should we just let the devs do everything, even though they can't possibly even try to cater to every individual desire or need?

 

What do you attribute Opera's low market share to?

 

Easy - it is not in the same class as the big boys. Just a poor man`s browser. When the epitome of global browsing and choice is all FREE, why bother with Opera ?

John

 

Oh lord

 

It would be brilliant if it worked properly.

 

Their non-existent marketing is the biggest culprit, followed by the quite normal situation of people using what their friends, family and such use. After all, word of mouth is the best marketing on the planet. The marketing department of Opera should shoulder much of the blame, but media has a hand in it too. As long as they solely follow the "Big Three", not many others stand a chance. That has absolutely nothing to do with the functionality of Opera or any other browser though.

 

Yet your problems may not be seen by the 2+ million people that use it. Therefore, something else is also wrong here, and, again, I believe it to be marketing. If it were a broken down POS, like some want to claim it is, it wouldn't have the percentage of users it does have.

P.S, I think it's quite possible company issues might be a part of it. After all, even its CEO didn't agree with where it was headed and bailed.

 

I've never seen Firefox marketing, I've seen Opera marketing.

I've definitely had issues with Opera though so I could never use it. And my issues are shared.

 

While it may not be the case lately, in the past, websites were plastered with "works with Firefox" and such labels. I've never, ever, ever in my years of computing seen Opera get that same treatment. You're in the same boat with Opera as I am Chrome, the damn thing just won't work properly. Yet that still has nothing to do with market share.

 

The favicon issue is regularly mentioned on their forums, as with many of the other issues. I think Opera is a bit like Marmite/Vegemite ... you either love it or hate it. The diehards will put up with its problems I suppose.

I had to consult the Urban Dictionary for 'POS' LOL! It certainly isn't a POS, it has loads of great features & is fast. I think it is a bit like SeaMonkey in many respects. It has great potential, but isn't as developed as the other browsers in many ways (although there are quite different reasons for their respective development status).

Yes, I think that you are almost certainly right about this. I don't know much about the politics at Opera ASA.

I keep giving Opera a bit of a fling at regular intervals. I have used it on & off since the #9 series (about the time the, troublesome for me, Fx#3 appeared) & it really has improved immensely. Most of its extensions actually work well & I think they have given it a whole new dimension. However there comes a time when you need a dependability with a browser, nothing's perfect, but when I start to need to open other browsers to look at a page (a nice function Opera has) sometimes I just wonder whether I should just stay with the browser that I have opened. I still like the analogy I make with an exotic, temperamental sports car: Elegant & great fun to use, but ultimately a little impractical.

 

Actually the page issues is one place Chrome still has problems, after 13 versions. Website incompatibilities tend to be the website developers fault, since they aren't likely to do as much testing on a browser with low market share.

 

Chrome will be passing Firefox in market share in just a few months if it keeps up the current trend.

 

No doubt. I'm not aboard the Mozilla hate train, but they certainly do have some work that needs to be done. They aren't out of the game yet though.

 

Ever since FF4 they've been losing a ton of support. It's silly. FF4 was a huge step forward for them. They just shouldn't have messed with the UI, it's putting people off.

 

I think the only way to not upset Mozilla's fan base is to stop trying to be like Chrome. And, unfortunately, that just isn't in the cards. Mozilla is kind of at a point of damned if you do, damned if you don't. Face it, if they slowed down the release cycle, they'd look bad. Keep it, and, as has well been proved, you upset people. The old UI was perfectly fine, but Chrome showed up with basically nothing but a blank page, and suddenly Mozilla was called upon to do that as well.

Although this new version issue means absolutely nothing to the user, they get put to the firing squad for that too, mostly because people are already ticked off over the release issue. And, it's a brand new change, when change was the last thing many users did not want. Mozilla simply can't win.

 

You trolling?

Or has "plummet" a different meaning nowadays?

 

Interestingly, neither Chrome/Iron or Firefox will run slide shows in some Scientific American pages, yet Opera will. As a whole though, page issues included, Opera seems to suffer from an accumulation of little bugs which unfortunately aren't helping its popularity.

 

And just why are we reading Scientific American? Are we cooking up something in the basement?

 

-Certain pages are Not properly displayed (e.g. FB Games),
-Lacks features/add-ons FF and GC have
and so on...

 

Did I say Scientific American? I meant 'Stamp Collecting Monthly' for any members of MI5/6 reading this ...

 

Opera has quite a lot of extensions now, many of them actually work!

 

Anyway, SciAm beats that fav browser thing you insist on reading.

 

Is there a decent one for downloading video from YouTube?