A browser that's free, comprehensive and innovative
Opera is a
free web browser that's fast, rich in features and innovative. Far behind Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer in terms of numbers of users, Opera is, however, the equal of its competitors and offers users a browser that's always at the forefront of technology.
Everything to let you surf easily
The Opera web browser offers all the features you need to happily surf the web. "
Quick Access" and "
Notebook" pages are available when you launch the browser and offer you easy access to the sites you use the most and those you've added to your favorites. At startup, Opera also offers a Discover page so you can always keep an eye on the news. It displays the news by topic and you can select the country and the language.
Opera includes a download manager, history and a private browsing mode so you can navigate without leaving a trace. It also lets you install
extensions to customize your surfing experience. While the catalog is much smaller than that provided by competing browsers, you will find versions of Adblock Plus, Feedly, Pinterest, Evernote Clearly etc. for Opera.
The Opera address bar is powerful and allows you to perform searches on multiple search engines at the same time, while benefiting from the suggestions for websites that gradually appear as you type.
Excellent design and performance
Opera's ergonomic choices means you end up with a
model of simplicity and practicality. The adopted codes are very similar to those adopted by other browsers and you can navigate very conveniently with Opera. The options are where you would expect them to be, and the Quick Access and Notebook pages are well thought out – generally speaking, the interface is very pleasant to use.
Opera
handles the latest web standards to perfection by using the WebKit rendering engine. The latter also replaces Presto, the Opera house engine. This adoption is, however, transient, and Opera should in fact use the Blink renderer developed by Google for its Chrome browser. It's a change in direction that promises many changes, improvements and enhancements in the future.
Besides constant performance, Opera offers a functionality dedicated to slow Internet connections. The
Off-Road Mode, formerly called Turbo, compresses pages to provide quick navigation, even when your connection is barely there.
In terms of the interface, Opera is friendly and adopts a modern style with a large navigation area. Its appearance is customizable with themes and you can add your own personal touch.
A web browser that's gaining momentum
Opera has all the great qualities in its category. It's
comprehensive, comes with a
nice interface and regularly innovates to offer its users the best possible experience. If you want to move away from Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer, then Opera is definitely the way to go.
What's new
- Aura: a technology developed by the Chromium project that lets you use hardware acceleration to make the browser faster.
- An option in the address field now lets Opera display the full page URL of the page.
- Chromium is updated to Version 34.0.1847.132.
- Opera is now fit with screens using a resolution of 200 dpi.
- When activated, an explanation is given on the All Terrain mode (Opera Turbo).
