I’ve just downloaded the new version of Opera’s web browser, and my Official Stance is: Nifty.
It’s not so much that I’m a stickler for particular features; I just want a browser that’s fast and doesn’t crash. Is that too much to ask? Regardless, here’s the skinny on the latest features available in Opera 9.
- Tabs display a thumbnail of the webpage: How cool is this? If you’re looking at your tab and can’t figure out what it is just by the title alone, hovering over the tab will display a little thumbnail image of the page for you
- Built-in BitTorrent support: Now, when you click on the download link for a torrent file, Opera begins its download, without requiring you to save the file and opening your torrent client manually
- Widgets: Yep, just like Mac OS X, Widgets are little stand-alone apps that do just one thing, unconnected to the browser. There are a bunch of them, too, in categories ranging from games to graphics to weather to blogs, etc.
One thing that peeves me about Opera 9, however, is the way it organizes my imported bookmarks alphabetically. I’ve gotten quite used to my preferred organization, thank you… I don’t need them alphabetized! I will say this, though… this browser proved quite speedy in opening and displaying graphics for many of the sites I regularly browse. Having said all this, however, I’m sticking with Firefox. I’m just that way, I suppose. But the rest of you interested in an alternate browser, you can download Opera 9 here.