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In the last post, I discussed some of the new features of Safari 4 beta. Though significant, the new features are hardly innovate; Opera users have enjoyed all of Safari 4’s new features for years now.

Opera introduced tabbed browsing. As one who takes his screen real estate seriously, tabbed browsing is one the single most important tools for browsing efficiency. Opera also invented mouse gesture web browsing. Productivity is drastically sped up by allowing users to use mouse motions to navigate pages rather than using the navigation buttons or keyboard shortcuts. For example, to go back a page, the user holds the right mouse button and clicks the left. Vice versa to go forward a page. To switch between tabs, the user holds the right mouse buttons and drags the scroll wheel. I’ve gotten so accustomed to the speed at which I can browse using mouse gestures, I accidentally try use them in windows explorer. If a programmer could make mouse gestures that worked in windows explorer, I’d plug your work everywhere!

Other great features include a robust selection of skins (Moi and Example are my favorites), built in torrent client (only browser with this feature natively), and widgets – small apps that run on top of Opera. There is also a feature called Speed Dial, which allows the user to pin up to 9 favorite sites onto the new tab screen for faster access to web pages. Apple has incorporated this feature into Safari 4 called Top Sites, but as of now, it doesn’t let you pin sites you haven’t already visited first, which is a bit annoying. I must admit however, the Apple version of Speed Dial is a very pretty looking one.

Until Google release Chrome, Opera was also the fastest browser on the market. However, the alpha release of Opera (version 10) has reclaimed the browsing speed title, thanks to the new Presto 2.2 browsing engine. Opera also loads faster than Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. In our fast paced world, speed is a crucial consideration when trying to increase productivity.

Though Opera enjoys a considerable market share in the mobile phone arena (I suspect Apple will continue to block the Opera browser because it is clearly better than the mobile version of Safari) as well as the Nintendo Wii and DS systems, it significantly trails Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. It is my hope that Opera’s personal computer market increases, because I think it offers the superior web browser experience.

More Objective Speed Tests at PC Mag

Download Opera Here

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Hello everyone! I go by the pen name TheLaw and I’d like to welcome you to my new blog L Tech Report! It is a spin-off of my political blog The L Comment. A quick bio, I am a musician and composer, and have been so for 18 years. I have a bachelors in music education, a masters in communication (TV/Radio/Film) and I have been a life long tech junkie. Yes… I do have spare motherboards in my closet for no good reason! This blog was made to share my passion for technology and innovation with the blogosphere, so please come often, leave comments, subscribe to the RSS feed, twitter me and all that good stuff!

Moving on to Episode 1, I wanted to talk about the Safari 4 beta, and Opera 10 alpha web browsers. I downloaded it and gave it a whirl a few days after it came out. I will say at the onset that I very much dislike most Apple products, but I also pride my self on my rationality, so I will always give the least biased account I can. That said, I didn’t like it very much. As of now, I very much prefer Safari 3.

One of the key issues is the placement of the tabs. I’m not sure if this is a failed Microsoft adaptation of the “ribbon” interface, or sloppy port to the Windows OS, but the tabs appear at the top of the window on the same plane as the minimize, restore, and close buttons appear. This is surprisingly horribly GUI design on Apple’s part because I believe most users block that section from their minds when browsing, much like we tend the focus reading at the center of a web page around advertisements.

The rest of the issues are tit-for tat issues that may not be a huge deal for some. I think the color scheme for safari was better in v.3 as a brushed steel silver. The interface is shinier now, and sort of resembles windows XP. Again, I haven’t tried this out on a Mac yet, so this could be a windows convention. I liked the way bookmarks appear on the personal bar in v.3 better as well. The font is now bigger, which is easier to read, but offers less viewing space, particularly noticeable on laptops.

Some really cool features include the innovative book marking system. It has a GUI facelift from version 3, adding a very awesome coverflow-like browsing system; book marked web pages can be view like albums in iTunes. It also starts up and loads pages way faster than v.3. The other sexy feature is the Top Sites window. In this view recently viewed websites are pinned on the screen for easy choosing when you create a new tab. The slick interface resembles the album view in iTunes, further accenting Apple’s commitment to a standardized Aqua interface.

Is it hot or not? It is a bit too early to tell, but it is definitely on the right track. It is faster, bolder and has nice new features, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that a lot of these “new” features have already existed in my FAVORITE web browser, Opera. In the next episode, we’ll dive into Opera 10 alpha and do a little compare and contrast!