Opera
Opera has always been seen as a browser for users who do not trust
IE and want something faster and lighter than Netscape. The
Opera browser was started in 1994 as a research project in
Norway’s telecom company Telenor. Two engineers from the same
company developed the browser Opera for the company’s intranet.
On July 14th 1996, Opera’s co-founder Jon von Tetzchner made the
first public announcement of Opera on UseNet and Opera came
into being for the general public.
Opera was written from a scratch and is not based on the
NCSA Mosaic code or interface methodology (as Internet
Explorer or Netscape are.) This gives it some unique browsing
features such as page zoom, a multi-document interface browsing
environment and mouse gestures. It has an extremely small
footprint and boasts of an impressive feature set, with great support for HTML, XML, WML, CSS (one of the best implementations),
JavaScript, DOM and Java.
Opera Series 1 was not released for the public and was called
MultiTorg Opera. This version was used for the Telenor Intranet.
The first public version of Opera was the Series 2. The first version is a Norwegian demo version of Opera 2.0 that was included
with a PC Magazine and loaded only local Norwegian pages.
Series 3 was the first coming in terms of acceptance for Opera
worldwide. Version 3.62 was the first version of Opera in terms of
features, stability and speed. CSS support was exceptional in this
version of Opera.
Opera Beta 4 was released in March 2000 and had support for
most of CSS2, all of CSS1, HTML4, XML, and WML. This version was
based on a cross-platform core and facilitated the release of Opera
for different Operating Systems. A new integrated e-mail client
was also included in this version. The first versions of Opera 4 were quite stable and buggy and it was after the release of 4.02 that the browser actually became useful.
The Opera 5 release was noticed by the general public, since
this time the browser was not on a 30-day trial period but was adsupported hence people could use the browser long after the 30-
day period. New features that were added to this release were
mouse-gestures, Instant Messaging features hot list panels and an
integrated search. In fact, many users are still using this version of the browser till date.
The long awaited Unicode support was introduced in the
Opera 6 release and a new SDI/MDI interface was also introduced
in the same release. The Opera 6 series was one of the most stable
and it was with this release that Opera garnered its own fans and
a cult following, but was still miles away from making a dent in
either Netscape’s or Internet Explorer’s market shares.
Opera 7 was released in early 2003 and featured a brand new
rendering engine called Presto. This engine enhanced and expanded
its support for standards and included W3C DOM and the Small
Screen Rendering technique for handheld devices. The interface
was redone entirely with a custom cross-platform skinning system
which significantly reduced resource usage, keyboard shortcuts,
mouse gestures, menus and toolbars.
Other new features that were included in this release were features such FastForward,Notes and Slideshow, which made the user experience even more enjoyable. A new news and mail client called M2 was introducedin this version as well as a RSS news reader and an IRC chat client.Opera 8 was released in early 2005 and is currently in version 8.0.1. The major reason for Opera being accepted publicly was not because of its compliance in standards with other browsers, but because of the non-standard browsing enhancements that were
absent in its competitors. It is light weight and has its own cult of fans. It has innovative features and is one of the most used
browsers on mobile devices.
Currently, Opera has started making inroads in other embedded
systems platforms as well. Opera’s market share is starting to
make a bit of a dent with users sticking to this alternative browser
rather than using Internet Explorer or Netscape. Plus, many of
Opera’s innovative features are finding their way into other
browsers as well. One of them is FireFox, the browser that we will
be talking about next.
IE and want something faster and lighter than Netscape. The
Opera browser was started in 1994 as a research project in
Norway’s telecom company Telenor. Two engineers from the same
company developed the browser Opera for the company’s intranet.
On July 14th 1996, Opera’s co-founder Jon von Tetzchner made the
first public announcement of Opera on UseNet and Opera came
into being for the general public.
Opera was written from a scratch and is not based on the
NCSA Mosaic code or interface methodology (as Internet
Explorer or Netscape are.) This gives it some unique browsing
features such as page zoom, a multi-document interface browsing
environment and mouse gestures. It has an extremely small
footprint and boasts of an impressive feature set, with great support for HTML, XML, WML, CSS (one of the best implementations),
JavaScript, DOM and Java.
Opera Series 1 was not released for the public and was called
MultiTorg Opera. This version was used for the Telenor Intranet.
The first public version of Opera was the Series 2. The first version is a Norwegian demo version of Opera 2.0 that was included
with a PC Magazine and loaded only local Norwegian pages.
Series 3 was the first coming in terms of acceptance for Opera
worldwide. Version 3.62 was the first version of Opera in terms of
features, stability and speed. CSS support was exceptional in this
version of Opera.
Opera Beta 4 was released in March 2000 and had support for
most of CSS2, all of CSS1, HTML4, XML, and WML. This version was
based on a cross-platform core and facilitated the release of Opera
for different Operating Systems. A new integrated e-mail client
was also included in this version. The first versions of Opera 4 were quite stable and buggy and it was after the release of 4.02 that the browser actually became useful.
The Opera 5 release was noticed by the general public, since
this time the browser was not on a 30-day trial period but was adsupported hence people could use the browser long after the 30-
day period. New features that were added to this release were
mouse-gestures, Instant Messaging features hot list panels and an
integrated search. In fact, many users are still using this version of the browser till date.
The long awaited Unicode support was introduced in the
Opera 6 release and a new SDI/MDI interface was also introduced
in the same release. The Opera 6 series was one of the most stable
and it was with this release that Opera garnered its own fans and
a cult following, but was still miles away from making a dent in
either Netscape’s or Internet Explorer’s market shares.
Opera 7 was released in early 2003 and featured a brand new
rendering engine called Presto. This engine enhanced and expanded
its support for standards and included W3C DOM and the Small
Screen Rendering technique for handheld devices. The interface
was redone entirely with a custom cross-platform skinning system
which significantly reduced resource usage, keyboard shortcuts,
mouse gestures, menus and toolbars.
Other new features that were included in this release were features such FastForward,Notes and Slideshow, which made the user experience even more enjoyable. A new news and mail client called M2 was introducedin this version as well as a RSS news reader and an IRC chat client.Opera 8 was released in early 2005 and is currently in version 8.0.1. The major reason for Opera being accepted publicly was not because of its compliance in standards with other browsers, but because of the non-standard browsing enhancements that were
absent in its competitors. It is light weight and has its own cult of fans. It has innovative features and is one of the most used
browsers on mobile devices.
Currently, Opera has started making inroads in other embedded
systems platforms as well. Opera’s market share is starting to
make a bit of a dent with users sticking to this alternative browser
rather than using Internet Explorer or Netscape. Plus, many of
Opera’s innovative features are finding their way into other
browsers as well. One of them is FireFox, the browser that we will
be talking about next.