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...because i don´t want to why don´t you clean my house?

Because Safari does everything I want it to do. To me, Opera is just to bloated. My web browser should be nothing more than a web browser: Safari for the web, NetNewsWire for RSS, Mail for mail (Note to non-Mac users: Macs mail program has the original name "Mail"), Azureus for BitTorrent, etc...

Actually, that's a point I don't like about Opera either. I have separate programs for e-mail, IRC and BitTorrent, so I don't like being these functions in Opera, just as dead weight.

Still, I can just ignore those things in the main menu and use the browser component only, so it's not a big problem after all.

And even with all those functions built in, Opera is still 33% smaller than Firefox (5.4MB vs. 8.1MB), and also uses much less memory. On Linux, anyway, no idea about other OSes...

Personally, I want a browser to come with all the features I need. To make Firefox useful, I'd have install two dozen extensions and then update them constantly whenever a new version comes out. No thanks...

Actually, you can control how much memory Opera uses, I had it set to 100 MB once but it got a bit too heavy and it's now only 30-40 MB.

And indeed, I don't like it that opera has a build-in torrent client, mail client etc. But I like it that it is very easy to use and highly costumizable, it is even so costumizable that I had it look totally different from what it was than a standard installation.

Firefox's icon is a lot better than Opera's icon!

I also discovered a couple days ago that I surf with my finger on the scrollwheel, not the left mouse button. Good thing, that is.

Whilst I don't use Opera mail client (anymore), the above points are right, the program doesn't feel bloated. It doesn't get slowdown or have big filesizes.

Heres another one of my reasons to use Firefox:
It auto-updates. This can be a drawback, when I needed a browser window open quickly and it decides to be clever and update itself. Thanks.

SpComb: That's a good thing? I browse with a finger on two buttons, the scroll wheel and most recently, my thumb on the side button. I don't know how Mac users manage with just the one!

One reason I use Opera on my Linux-Box is that it is really fast and also feels really fast. I especially like the tabbing. In Firefox tabs just feel slow and laggy.

But there is one killer reason for me to use Opera: Go back by holding the right button and tapping the left (or the other way round to go forward). I have a mouse with seperate Back- and Forward-Keys but still - this one feature does it. I have not yet found a Firefox-plugin that mimics this behaviour.

But sadly, I can't use Opera everywhere. On my iBook I use Safari. With just one mousebutton there is no going back and forth with two mousebuttons - but then again, the backspace-key is not that far from the mousepad, so no trouble there. Additionally, Safari integrates better with all the other pieces of a mac (guess why...)
From time to time I also get to work on some IA64-Machines (64-Bit computers for the non-geeky among us). There is no version of Opera for 64-bit Linux, so I have to use Firefox on those machines - yuck.

I don't use Opera because I use Firefox, and Firefox does everything I want it to, quite nicely.

I use opera because it's fast, it has rss reader, it has great look, and is easy to use.

Patchman wrote:And even with all those functions built in, Opera is still 33% smaller than Firefox (5.4MB vs. 8.1MB), and also uses much less memory. On Linux, anyway, no idea about other OSes...

Personally, I want a browser to come with all the features I need. To make Firefox useful, I'd have install two dozen extensions and then update them constantly whenever a new version comes out. No thanks...

You can also say that FireFox choose a different approach: the core version is pretty bare in functionality so you won't end up with stuff you never use. For the people that do want extensions you can add them. A great feature of FF 1.5.x.x is the auto-update and updating extensions is usually a matter of seconds.

But extensions are not up to the standards you'd expect from a proper release, they are not forced to work on newer versions or for bugs to be fixed. You can't rely on them for funamental features.

Do extensions really slow down (further) and make Firefox hog (more) memory?

I use mozilla firefox and IE7 on the pure basis that if it doesn't work in either of the two standard browsers, then what hope does it have for others?

And yes - IE7 + standards was a joke

I think those who are using IE because it "just because it works" are being lazy quite frankly.
Sure it "just works", but how do you know that you won't find something that will much improve your browsing experience in either FF or Opera?
True it takes a couple of days to fully adjust to a new browser (even if you're used it before but not used it for ages), but once you're into the swing of things you find you can do things nice and quickly.

Personally I'm an Opera fan (since v5 - years). I don't use most of the built in features listed in the above posts, but that doesn't matter because somehow the Opera folks have managed to add all of that stuff and still make it significantly smaller than IE or FF, as well as keep it fast.

Favourite Opera feature? Probably the Back/Forward mouse click.
Press + hold right MB, then press Left MB. Tadaaa - you've just gone back a page without having to move the mouse. Innovation at it's best.
It's ability to remember the contents of a text box upon reloading of a page is also quite nifty (FF doesn't do that).

My problem with FF is all of those extensions you need to find to make it place nice. And it never feels quite as slick as Opera.

Moriarty wrote:It's ability to remember the contents of a text box upon reloading of a page is also quite nifty (FF doesn't do that).

Actually, yes, that's one Opera feature I cannot live without in FF (and there's AFAICT no extension to do this). When filling out a form, I can go back in the page history, open a link in another page and then go forward in the page history and everything I've entered is still there. Same for going back to a page created by a POST request, FF will re-submit the form whereas Opera just displays the page from cache.

This is particularly useful when writing forum posts. While it does show the text of the recent posts when composing a reply, it does not show attachments so I sometimes have to go back to look at a picture. In FF that means I have to open another tab, open the forums URL, and then find the topic and post I wanted to look at.

Patchman wrote:This is particularly useful when writing forum posts. While it does show the text of the recent posts when composing a reply, it does not show attachments so I sometimes have to go back to look at a picture. In FF that means I have to open another tab, open the forums URL, and then find the topic and post I wanted to look at.

Firefox can remember what you wrote under certain circumstances. (Hell, so can IE.) If you type stuff, and then go back, and then go forward again, it's usually still in the text box. I think it may be related to whether the page is cacheable or something - ie, whether it has to reload the page when you go back to it.

orudge wrote:

Patchman wrote:This is particularly useful when writing forum posts. While it does show the text of the recent posts when composing a reply, it does not show attachments so I sometimes have to go back to look at a picture. In FF that means I have to open another tab, open the forums URL, and then find the topic and post I wanted to look at.

Firefox can remember what you wrote under certain circumstances. (Hell, so can IE.) If you type stuff, and then go back, and then go forward again, it's usually still in the text box. I think it may be related to whether the page is cacheable or something - ie, whether it has to reload the page when you go back to it.

But it's certainly not reliable enough to use it regularly, especially not after writing a long post. You'd have to copy the text to the clipboard to be sure. In Opera it has yet to fail me no matter how far I went back in the history.

"in certain circumstances" doesn't cut it.
If I accidentally go "back" a page, or somehow click a link during the composition of my brilliant forum posts ( ) then I'll most likely lose my nice "prose" in either IE of FF. And like most folks I'm not keen on writting the same thing twice.

But yes, inspite of FF's large memory footprint, somehow it doesn't cache pages nicely unlike Opera.
And IE isn't even worth talking about in this field.

I realised something today, how the people who use IE are actually degrading the internet.

IE does not comply to the latest standards, that much is commonly known, but seen as websites are made to work with IE, people will believe there isn't a problem. But there really really is. Because a large market share is using IE6, web developers have to code their sites badly in order to make IE work. They can't use the latest CSS effects, as they know a great share of their audience won't see the effects.

IE6 is stopping the internet progressing. Everyday you use it, you are holding the internet back. So lets make a difference.

If you are a user of IE, there is a chance to change:
Download Firefox or Download Opera
Doesn't matter which you choose, they are both free and easy to install. Whilst Opera is currently more standards compliant, Firefox has an auto-update so will catch up.

I use IE7, but I ain't lazy. I tried Firefox, and I tried IE, and I liked IE more...

Will try Opera today though.