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Opera 18 review: This browser's seen radical changes… perhaps too radical |
December 09, 2013
Opera has always been the Avis or RC Cola of Web browsers—just behind the leading two, even as the identity of the leaders shifted over time. Opera 12, reviewed some time ago, was the last of one development path. Since then, the rendering engine has shifted (to the Chromium platform) and so has the design direction. A series of rapid-fire releases began with Opera 15, and Opera 18 is the latest release build, with Opera 19 in the testing stage.
The Quick Access Bar might as well be hidden behind a locked door in a disused lavatory with a sign reading “Beware Of The Leopard.”
Opera 18 takes an extremely minimalist approach to browser design, perhaps because there is now a focus on phone, tablet, and desktop interoperability. It’s so minimalist, bookmarks are no longer considered an essential part of the browser experience.
The “Stash” feature may be very helpful, but it should be in addition to more traditional functionality.
By delving into some obscure settings, one can activate a “quick access bar,” and then jump through more hoops to simulate the typical bookmark menu. Sort of. In place of bookmarks, the developers encourage you to use their “Start Page” and “Stash” features, the latter letting you store webpages for later on a “Stash” page. Because everything is page-based, you have to switch from what you’re looking at to go to the Start Page or the Stash. Want to browse your history? That also takes up a page.
This is a depressing change. Opera 12 made great use of the mostly-wasted horizontal space on desktop monitors, with sidebar tabs (a must for me, since I will not use a desktop browser without a tab sidebar), and a multi-pane second sidebar that held bookmarks, history, downloads, a notepad, and more. Opera 18 has none of this, just a vast blank space 1920 pixels wide on my screen.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2068265/opera-18-review-this-browsers-seen-radical-changes-perhaps-too-radical.html#tk.rss_reviews
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