Opera 9.5 vs Firefox 3

Now that their officially out its time to compare them.

I didn't make this a poll because more users worldwide use firefox than opera so it wouldn't be fair.

Were comparing features, performance, customisability, etc...
Backup your rebuttles with pictures if you can .

 

I started with IE, then FF and finally Opera. After I settled on Opera, I never needed any thing else. I used to install FF for my friends but stopped as it was like a bulky elephant on dial up while opera rused to run like a leopard on same systems.

The plus point for FF are extensions but I gradually turned off from them as they slow start up of FF and also with each new release there are extensions not working until you get new updates for them. It,s a bit of hassle.

Opera,s built-in functions are more than enough for me. The only issues with Opear for me was of GUI but the latest version has a pleasantly elegent GUI so I am totally happy with it now.

 

I used to use Firefox 2 then Opera 8.5, 9, 9.2, and then Opera 9.5. One thing that I noted was that it normally was fast, but, if my connection (broadband) went just as little slower, Opera would scr*w up. When I wanted to open a page, it displayed 30 seconds a blank screen, then started loading the website. Other times it would just leave a blank page until I pressed ENTER four or five times in the address bar. Another thing that I hated was website compatibility. I couldn't use GMX Mail, I would just press the login button but nothing happened. Also Yahoo Mail wouldn't work, it just crashed in version 9.2 and displayed javascript errors in version 9.5. Another funny thing was, that, in some forums (Mainly IPBoard ones), when I wanted to send a Personal Message, instead of sending the message it would send a screenshot of the message box . I reported that since version 8.5, but that got never fixed.
This was the negative part that made me switch to Firefox 3.
But besides the bad parts, it was a very good browser, the GUI (especially the latest one) is cool, it has integrated RSS feed and Mail, BitTorrent Support, Voice Control, Mouse Gestures etc. But I realised I didn't use any of these functions, maybe sometimes the Bittorent support, but I prefer using uTorrent for .torrent files.
I switched from Firefox 2 because I felt better with Opera, it had less memory and CPU usage, and was faster. I could resist with Opera for a lot of time, the page rendering and the slowness (even after tweaking some options such reducing nr of remembered pages and server name completition) but then I gave up...
I found Firefox 3 very good. It was fast, (especially after some tweaking) compatible with any page I tried. It had all the features I used, no need for addons for me. I also found it using less memory that Opera when opening a lot of tabs (80MB with 100MB or 100MB with 120-140MB).
Of course Opera gets a better result than Firefox 3 in Acid Tests, but I don't care a lot about that.

About safety, it seems that Opera is safer than Firefox, but IMO Firefox 3 isn't and won't be as vulnerable as Firefox 2 was.

So now I'm using Firefox 3, without any addon, it runs fine enough for me. I may switch to Opera 10, if it gets as compatible as Firefox or Internet Explorer, it gets faster when the connection is slow (all my browser tested were faster than Opera with slow connection, FF,Safari, IE6,Netscape), and if Firefox won't have made something better by then.

How many tabs can Opera and Firefox open without crashing? According to this http://translate.google.com/transla...enymi-panely-listy/&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=cs&tl=en , Opera 9.5 1113 and 550MB RAM, while Firefox 3 1500 and 380MB RAM.

 

I used Opera a couple of years ago and really liked it but switched back to Firefox. Very recently, when Opera 9.5 was released, I was starting the process of switching back to Opera, you know, redoing my bookmarks and adblocking; then I heard that Firefox 3 was just days away so I waited ... as nice as Opera 9.5 is, I will be staying with Firefox afterall. Finally a browser with the features of Firefox (actually the features of version 3 are much improved even) and the speed of Opera!

Acadia

 

I have used both Opera and Firefox for a long time now. In all this time FF has been playing catchup to Opera. And in the new versions FF 3.0 and Opera 9.5 It still seems to be the same, FF is still playing catchup but not quite getting there. This is just my opinion but I have seen a lot of post relating to and agreeing with mt Opinion

 

And how would this relate to real world browsing? Who in their right mind would have over 1000 tabs open in the first place Or even 100 tabs?

 

Lol just a curiosity!

 

I figured that, I just had to do my "EVIL" post of the day and get it out of the way.

 

I used a previous version of opera for almost a year, and then switched back to Firefox2.

I tried Opera 9.5 a few days ago, and it's a great browser (I liked the speed dial feature a lot). Fast, stable. But deep down inside, I've never really liked Opera.
Yesterday I installed Firefox3. I love the new GUI. Browsing is fast over here.

I think bigc is right, firefox is a bit behind of Opera. Take for example the "awesome bar" (I don't know the name in Opera). If you start typing in the URL adress bar, Firefox starts searching and displays all websited in your bookmarks and in your browsing that match the word you are typing. But it only searches in the URL's and the website titles. Opera on the other hand also serachs ON THE WHOLE WEBSITE TEXT, which is very usefull when you can't remember where you read that little frase. (Awesome bar can be disabled BTW).

I also love extension in Firefox. I usea really few of them, just 4 or 5, but it's a great feature. I really don't like Opera Widgets.

 

I've tried both and in my humble opinion Firefox 3 is by far the best. Opens very fast, very configurable, and my favorite extensions are still compatible (NoScript, AdBlock, Permit Cookies). To be honest I never did like Opera for I had too much trouble accessing certain web sites (error message would pop up when it attempted to load). That was enough for me...so Firefox forever. And if Mozilla incorporates Protected Mode into Firefox 4 I'll be very, very happy.

 

Same here. The only thing i used in FF extensions was mouse gestures. Opera has them by default, no need to redownload them after a format or check version compatibility after an update.

Plus, Opera looks much better.

 

I generally do not leave software on my machine that I am not going to use, so although I install it to try it out, it gets uninstalled if I do not use it.

This is what keeps happening with Opera. I prefer Firefox. And I do run a few add-ons/extensions.

If Opera had a simple and effective equivalent to the AdBlockPlus add-on (with the EasyList USA filter list) of Firefox, it would perhaps last longer on my PC.

 

So the main problem seems accessing pages with opera.

Hopefully they can fix it in opera 10.

 

http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/

A very simple and effective ad block for Opera. Opera has been my default browser and mail client since version 3x and continues to do so with 9.5 I always try out other alternates but somehow find Opera to be the smoothest and fastest as well as having the best interface.

 

hello,
i prefer opera.
has all the stuff i need built-in.
its also definitely faster than firefox.
simple layout and works very well.
i like firefox but will always go back to opera mainly because i don't like having to find extensions for stuff.

@AKAJohnDoe,
the use admuncher for blocking adverts it costs money but its well worth it.
it supports all browsers and is updated alot.

 

I have both Opera and Firefox on my machines. I much prefer Firefox, mostly for reasons that I can't quite convey. It just seems to suit me better, so I use it much more often than Opera. Part of that I guess could be just that I got used to FF before I ever tried Opera. I think both are excellent browsers though and I would use either of them over IE anyday.

Some of the things I don't like as much about Opera:

The appearance and preferences menus seem harder to sort out and use to me than on Firefox.

In Firefox I can drop down my bookmarks list and right click an entry and then click "open in new tab", etc. I can't do that in Opera, unless there is some setting that I can change to do so. I can't do it by default anyway.

The new default theme in Opera makes it too hard for me to differentiate between open tabs, they seem to blend together due to their coloring and lack of a more contrasting border around them.

edit: I can see them better in the screenshot I submitted than in the actual browser. Maybe it's usually just my failing eyesight.

 

Memory use in Opera, FF and IE, all with one page open of the same site and yes, in my PC, Opera is still fastest.

 

Opera here too. I had an issue with speed in 9.27 (FF too) but 9.5 has everything I want.

 

Quite a few years ago I had Opera and FF running side by side, trying to decide which one I liked best. After almost a year, I decided on Firefox. One of the main reasons I dislike Opera is because it is geared to the young dudes and girls. You can see it in the configuration, and especially in the Community page. They had a chat room, which I immediately found to be populated by kids asking me how old I was. As a mature adult passed my dude years, I found FF to be more my liking. FF 3 is cool.

 

I too had both FF and Opera running and I really loved FF but found Opera to be a bit faster on my Dial-up and also found the "transfer" in opera to be a lot better. FF would quite often start the download all over if for some reason I got knocked offline, I do not remember this ever happening to me in Opera which is very important to a dial-up user.
I haven't used FF for a couple of years now.

 

I don't use things because they are cool. Things are cool because I use them.

 

What does a community page have to do with the browser itself?
And the configuration in opera is more confusing and uncategorized compared to firefox so why is it geared to "young dudes".

 

I love both browsers but the one thing that swings me in favour of Firefox is the Roboform toolbar.
I know Opera has wand, but Roboform is just so much better and all passcards etc can also be used with IE.

 

I maintain my Dad's computer (he's an elderly gentlemen and on dial-up) and since neither Firefox nor Opera has auto-disconnect I'm forced to use IE7. His eyesight is poor so he needs that auto-disconnect box to pop up. I sure wish Firefox or Opera had that feature but alas they don't. If they did I'd switch my Dad's browser over in a heartbeat.