Opera 10 Beta Looks Good
The browser's "visual tabs" can be seen across the top of the screen. Screenshot: Wright Bryan/NPR hide caption
Another step forward in the world of Web browsers took place just the other day. Opera released version 10 (beta) of their eponymous browser. What, you thought all you needed was Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3, Chrome 2 and Safari 4 beta?
No, you need Opera 10b if, for no other reason, only to reassure yourself that you made the right choice when you chose to make one of the above your tool of choice for slogging through the jungle that is the WWW.
I've just given Opera 10b a quick spin and I can say that I am impressed. It looks better than Chrome, my current warhorse, and feels snappy enough to make me think that it could be a contender, if only the field weren't already so crowded.
The obvious innovations are minimal. Opera's strength is its clean presentation and speed. The browser sports "visual tabs" for keeping track of all those sites you're switching between. And the "speed dial" feature offers up a visual list of your favorite sites, just like Safari 4b's "top sites" feature. You can go over to CNET's Download Blog for a more complete look at the release.
It being beta software, I did run into a couple of rendering problems during casual use. Opera had an intermittent problem handling the revolving Flash billboard on NPR.org's home page. And it totally botched the AJC's home page by repeating a visual element across the board.
Regardless, my first-look verdict is that Opera 10b is worth the download. It's slick software that looks good and seemed to work well in typical use. It's available for Windows, Mac and Linux systems. Give it a try and tell us about your experience with it!