Opera Dropping Presto In Favor Of Webkit?

File this under "Rumor", but Opera may be moving on to better ideas. Mobile is coming first, then possibly desktop versions. Could this be a shift that brings Opera back into the spotlight, or is it far too late now? Your opinions?

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI3ODU

"Next month Opera will be rolling out "Opera Ice", a new web-browser for smart-phones and tablets. This mobile Opera browser won't be built on their Presto engine but rather the popular WebKit engine. Initially this WebKit-browser is just targeting the mobile space but it's expected to eventually land on the desktop too. "

 

I think this is just because of the restrictions iOS has.

They may at the same time release a version of it for android.

I highly doubt the desktop windows and linux versions will switch to webkit.

 

I''m stretching here into "what if" territory, but, would it be too far fetched to wonder if perhaps they are looking at Webkit to solve some of the issues Opera faces with websites not working correctly? This is an old link now, but http://www.webmonkey.com/2012/02/webkit-isnt-breaking-the-web-you-are/ is suggesting the trend of "Webkit-only websites". That wouldn't shock me really, considering we once had a "Trident-only" web in the past. I guess we'll find out in February and March what the real deal is.

 

I personally believe they are fully committed to their own rendering engine and I expect to see many many updates this year for it improving all aspects of it.

This is just my opinion since I don't work for them.

 

I'm really hoping so. I don't know why they leave a lot of old bugs never fixed for one thing, unless it's a resources issue. I blame a lot of page rendering problems on websites, but I'm sure Opera too could work more on it. We'll see

 

To be completely frank I hope they never switch to webkit.

not only because that would encourage a monoculture and allow web devs to just target webkit which wouldn't be good at all.

but also I prefer the Opera rendering engine to any other.

it's not perfect but Opera more closely matches how I think than any other browser and if they just became another webkit based browser I feel I wouldn't have any where left to go.

I use Opera 12+ hours every day....

for normal browsing and to do my job, without it, both would suffer.

 

Didn't they add the webkit prefix last year? What is it about how Opera does things that makes it easier for you to work?

 

Agree. Opera for me is the better browser for features. Only, once it was faster, I hope that the developers wrrk for this.

 

Totally agree. Been using Opera since there was a payware version. It just suits me.

 

That might make Opera actually usable.

 

Of course it's a resource issue. I read on some Opera blog that they half their time on fixing broken sites (I may be mistaken, but it was a whole lot of time at least). That doesn't leave much time left for bugs when you also have to implement all those new standards that are popping up left and right.

 

Well if they're spending their time on broken sites, they aren't succeeding all that well on many of them (it has gotten better, but it has a long way to go). Bugs should be their very first priority in their particular case. There are bugs that have lasted years still not fixed. As for standards, those are all great, but if you don't make your browser usable enough for the web of now, how do you expect to make it usable for the web of the future?

 

You seem to think that the web is static, and that it's a fixed list of problems and it's just a matter of getting through the list. In reality sites are constantly changing. So even if you fix a hundred compatibility problems, two hundred of them might show up the next day because some site does a redesign, adds a new feature, etc.

And then you have all the sites starting to use new standards before they are ready. If Opera doesn't add support for those standards, all those sites will be broken.

So as you can see, the web is not as static as you seem to think, and supporting what the other browsers support is necessary for compatibility despite not being about fixing bugs.

 

There have always been a lot of rumours about Opera. Most of them are usually just that. I will probably stop using Opera if the desktop switched to WebKit. I can't see this happeneing though to be honest. The only really official x64 browser (other than IE) is Opera. I don't know if there are any x64 (for Windows) WebKit based browsers. I don't care what anyone says, but Presto is a pretty good rendering engine IMO. It's nice to have more of a choice from the ubiquitous WebKit.

 

I've never once said the web was static, in fact it hasn't been static since the early to mid 90s. But they have a lot more bugs than just rendering problems. I sort of blame Chrome for websites jumping the gun on standards a lot, since Google seems to think every idea that they come up with should be what everybody follows. In fact I think websites are becoming "Chrome friendly". But I know they aren't the only ones to blame.

 

I don't think there are any other official x64 browsers on Windows beyond IE and Opera period. Rendering engines don't make a bit of difference to me so long as they render the sites properly that I need them to render. Not every website will, and that's fine, but the ones I need to simply must in my browser or I move on.

 

Totally agree as well.

 

Webkit would be a very good idea. Opera features and looks with speed and rendering of Webkit? Dream browser.

Opera isn't dumb, they know if they do not keep up they will continue to lose marketshare to Chrome. It's time for them to step up.

 

That's a fair comment. luckily for me, Opera only really breaks a few Yahoo! News pages. In fact, Chrome seems to break more pages than Opera for me. Which is why I tend to prefer Opera. I really would hate to lose the Presto engine however. Personally I believe that all rendering engines have a particular 'feel' & have certain qualities. I have always been able to detect this on Gecko engined browsers. I have never particularly liked the 'feel of WebKit or WebKit based browsers. I know it sounds ridiculous, but many people on the Internet are not that enamoured with Chrome & actually prefer other browsers. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of browsers are switching to WebKit. If this carries on all we will have are WebKit based browsers. And that can't be a good thing.

 

Maybe for you. For me, Presto both renders pages I use regularly better than WebKit & personally I think that it would ruin Opera's distinctness. Plus, they will probably not have a x64 browser on general release any more. On all three of my computers Opera is faster & renders pages as a whole better than Chrome.

I just hope Opera keep Presto for their desktop.

 

But if they change to Webkit then I am more than willing to try it out Dave

 

Could be your lucky day then SweX.

 

I dunno about that, d'ya remember Widgets?

 

Widgets in Opera? OK maybe Opera isn't for me then after all

 

Oh they dropped those some time ago! It wouldn't hurt to give Opera a spin though SweX. It has improved enormously of late. It's working well for me anyway.

Most people have a love-hate relationship with Opera: They love to hate it!