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[Rant] Why does Opera do this?
Bob Keane
Member #7,342
June 2006

I just downlaoded the latest version of Opera (1215) and I gotta say I don't like it. I haven't fully tested it, not sure I will keep it. When I type in allegro.cc/forums, it redirects me to Comedy Central and says the page could not be found. Even when I try going through history, I get Comedy Central. I have to type in the full url to get here. I also had a problem with marking favourites on a previous version. How is FireFox?

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Jeff Bernard
Member #6,698
December 2005
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Bob Keane said:

When I type in allegro.cc/forums, it redirects me to Comedy Central and says the page could not be found.

If you type in something else with a slash and a page but not a .com like "tigsource/about" does it take you the actual page? If so that's got to be the worst feature a browser has ever implemented, assuming .com TLD.

--
I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.

jhuuskon
Member #302
April 2000
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I've had 12.15 for ages and that is NOT default behaviour. Sounds like you have somehow got the comedy central home page search as your default search provider.

Settings -> search tab -> double click on comedy central -> uncheck use as default. Then set google or something as your default. Why it searches instead of showing the server not found error page, I have no idea.

Also, uncheck Hostname web lookup (opera:config#Network|EnableHostNameWebLookup) and clear the address field for added measure.

You don't deserve my sig.

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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Searching for URLs (i.e., the "location bar") is the worst feature ever. At the very least it should prompt you, but ideally it should just fail. I think that most browsers have a separate search field installed anyway so searching from the location bar is redundant and erroneous (well for all I know they got rid of that box now to hype a "magic" box that does it all, but it's doing it fucking wrong). I always disable this feature in Firefox, but it is always frustrating having to research it again with every new Firefox install. At the very least it should prompt you the first time it happens, like it does with unencrypted content on an encrypted page, etc.

Matthew Leverton
Supreme Loser
January 1999
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I prefer all-in one.

Most people probably wouldn't notice if there were no address bar at all, since the standard practice is to search for the domain name on your home page (Google, Bing, etc) and then click on the first result.

LennyLen
Member #5,313
December 2004
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bamccaig said:

Searching for URLs (i.e., the "location bar") is the worst feature ever. At the very least it should prompt you, but ideally it should just fail.

Maybe you would like Opera then, as that is the default behaviour:

{"name":"607609","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/d\/dde861862468e5efaf56694ea09e9db5.png","w":1198,"h":478,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/d\/dde861862468e5efaf56694ea09e9db5"}607609

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
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{"name":"607610","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/1\/8156e1753f693ebf5ded659828732a5e.png","w":1440,"h":900,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/1\/8156e1753f693ebf5ded659828732a5e"}607610

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Jeff Bernard
Member #6,698
December 2005
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LennyLen said:

Maybe you would like Opera then, as that is the default behaviour:

Default behavior on Chrome too:

{"name":"607611","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/3\/b\/3b11b5b20902406156245b97b7a4e14e.png","w":1425,"h":439,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/3\/b\/3b11b5b20902406156245b97b7a4e14e"}607611

--
I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.

jhuuskon
Member #302
April 2000
avatar

By default, Opera treats the address bar as an address bar first and as a search field only if address lookup fails or it's specifically asked to search.

It will assume "http://" to incomplete URLs and automatically add a missing www., .com, .net, .org or your locale's national TLD's (you can switch this behaviour off of course). Failing the DNS lookup[1], it'll use the hostname lookup address to search for it, if enabled (disabled by default and it's not even available via the settings dialog, because as evident by this thread's existence, it's massively confusing).

You can search in three different ways. First is to just type in the address bar and it'll use the default search engine (this is Google out of the box). Or your can type a search prefix ('g' for google, etc.) which will force searching with that search engine even if the rest of the text is a fully valid URL. The third way is to type into the address bar and click on the search on the dropdown list that opens when you start typing.

You can of course switch all that magic off if you feel like being an assburger about it. ;)

References

  1. If set up so, it'll first try treating the address as a UNC path (i.e. \\machine\resource), then DNS

You don't deserve my sig.

Vanneto
Member #8,643
May 2007

bambam only has one problem, and that is Firefox. Come on dude, stop living under a rock.

Chrome is the new Firefox,
Firefox is the new Internet Explorer,
Internet Explorer is like Opera and
Opera is...

Well, Opera just is.

In capitalist America bank robs you.

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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There are many other problems with Opera (for one thing it tries to do too much). In any case, the main reasons I won't abandon Firefox are Pentadactyl, Adblock Plus, NoScript, Cookie Monster 1.x, and Ghostery. And then like 10 other essential extensions that make browsing the Web a joy. No other browser has equivalent functionality, even through addons. At best they have mimics that pretend to meet that need, but fall very short.

Vanneto
Member #8,643
May 2007

NoScript, AdBlock Plus, Vimium, Ghostery.

bamccaig said:

And then like 10 other essential extensions that make browsing the Web a joy. No other browser has equivalent functionality, even through addons. At best they have mimics that pretend to meet that need, but fall very short.

Considering Chrome has the biggest market share, I'd wager Firefox will be getting the substandard plugin ports pretty soon.

Have fun!

In capitalist America bank robs you.

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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Chrome's extensions are not as powerful and are not as feature complete. I have tried them before. Maybe that will change, but it hasn't yet.

BAF
Member #2,981
December 2002
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Silly bambam, web browsers aren't operating systems!

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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Matthew Leverton
Supreme Loser
January 1999
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LennyLen
Member #5,313
December 2004
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bamccaig said:

Somebody should tell Opera!

Opera is an Internet Suite.

MiquelFire
Member #3,110
January 2003
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Find me a TabMixPlus on Chrome, and maybe I'll think about moving over there. :P

---
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MiquelFire.red
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Karadoc ~~
Member #2,749
September 2002
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Vanneto said:

bambam only has one problem, and that is Firefox. Come on dude, stop living under a rock.
Chrome is the new Firefox

Chrome might have been 'the new Firefox' for awhile, but I think that time has already past. In recent times Google have been shaping Chrome to push users into other Google products, and to create a lock-in effect by merging certain Google features into Chrome. The stuff they are doing isn't intrinsically bad - but I think it's fair to say that Chrome's main purpose is to serve Google rather than to serve the users - whereas Firefox's purpose really is to serve the users.

For people who are great Google fans, and don't mind using their Google account for every part of their life and so on, then Chrome is probably the best choice - but Chrome is not 'the new Firefox', because Firefox is about flexibility and freedom whereas Chrome is not.

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m c
Member #5,337
December 2004
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Bob Keane said:

How is FireFox?

Great, as always. Come over to the foxy side.

[EDIT] The latest news is that the default download manager (that crappy separate window) has finally been done away with by replacing it with this cool sleek thing that is really handy. But I can just use the various plugins.

[EDIT 2] Also they have a embedded javascript based PDF viewer so you don't use the adobe plugin anymore (unless you want to I guess).

Chrome is a google botnet.

(\ /)
(O.o)
(> <)

MiquelFire
Member #3,110
January 2003
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The javascript based PDF is Firefox catching up to Chrome :P (Says the Firefox user)

---
Febreze (and other air fresheners actually) is just below perfumes/colognes, and that's just below dead skunks in terms of smells that offend my nose.
MiquelFire.red
If anyone is of the opinion that there is no systemic racism in America, they're either blind, stupid, or racist too. ~Edgar Reynaldo

Vanneto
Member #8,643
May 2007

@Karadoc ~~: I have no idea what you're talking about. I think I saw "Login to Chrome" a long time ago (which I ignored). Other than that, I don't know of any integration attempts. If there is some sort of integration that I indeed cannot turn off, then you are free to correct me. Until then, I call serious BS.

Don't hate on the G-Man. >:(

In capitalist America bank robs you.

m c
Member #5,337
December 2004
avatar

Why is chrome so popular I don't even use it.

You are just google-lovers. Enjoy your proto-skynet.

(\ /)
(O.o)
(> <)

Karadoc ~~
Member #2,749
September 2002
avatar

@Vanneto,
I stopped using Chrome some time ago, so maybe my info is out-of-date. Also, when I did use Chrome I was on the beta channel; so maybe some of these things didn't make it to the general release. But anyway, here are a few of the things I had in mind:

Last time I used Chrome, the new-tab page nag asking me to log in was gone - because apparently I was already logged in. Based on that I concluded that Chrome was now automatically using my google login. Also, at around the same time, I did a search at google.com and was shocked when the search box became the address box. ie. when I started typing in the search box on the google.com page, the cursor automatically jumped into Chrome's address bar and the search box disappeared - it was as though the address bar was somehow meant to be part of the web page. Another thing that bothered me about Chrome was that they removed the ability to 'pin' pages on the new-tab page. In earlier versions of chrome it was possible to rearrange the thumbnail page links however one liked - that feature was removed in favour of the "apps" page - a blatant attempt to drive users onto the google web store. There were also an irremovable links to the web store, both on the apps page and on the new-tab page.

At one stage, the new-tab page was telling me to buy a Chromebook. It was an advertisement for a Chromebook (with a price tag) on my new-tab page.

When I didn't use chrome for awhile, chrome would actually launch an unsolicited popup on my desktop telling me that Chrome has had some improvements and that I should start using it again! Google advertise Chrome when I go to google search, and when I did use Chrome they used it to advertise other Google products to me.

Google are clearly using Chrome as a tool to push people into their other products. They use it as an advertising platform rather than just a neutral web-browser. I don't want to be nagged to use more Google products, and I don't want my browser to behave in a special way that favours Google, and I certainly don't want to be at the mercy of Google's advertisements when I'm not even at a google website. So I don't use Chrome anymore.

--

As I said before, I don't think this stuff in Chrome is intrinsically bad. I just don't want it for myself. I'm sure there are people who are completely comfortable with the Googlization of their browser; and for those people Chrome is probably the best browser. But I am not one of those people. I don't want my browser to behave like a Google-Gateway.

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bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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We've begun to use Google Apps at j0rb. We have begun using Google Chat and Mail for internal communication, etc. I always have my personal account logged in though so having two tabs (for every service) is incredibly confusing so to avoid it I log into my j0rb chat account with Pidgin (using the jabber protocol). Works great. I actually get a notification on my desktop when a colleague sends me a message, which is useful to respond more timely, etc. Anyway today the manager informs us that they released a new Google Plus "hangout" thing with group chats and that we should all check it out (prior to Google we ran our own private jabber server, which had a convenient group chat feature that we could all join to chat company-wide). So I try it out. I think that it somehow magically just installed something into Google Chrome. Suddenly I'm seeing things popping up and at first I assumed they were in browser (which annoyed me because I hate Web sites that try to emulate desktop applications), but I quickly realized that it was actually outside of Chrome (which come to think of it I don't think I authorized :o)! Even though it wasn't using native window styles/behaviors. For example, you can't maximize the chat windows. They are custom, like Chrome itself. These things annoy the fuck out of me. They're in the way, they don't behave like they should, and they don't follow platform standards. They're also styled after smart phone chat applications, wasting a ton of screen real-estate, instead of utilizing the entire screen to make the conversation readable. The whole thing is basically "Chrome", except for running in the background. So even if you try to close the browser it is still running in the background with all of this extra garbage. It's fucking horrible. The worst part of all of this is that Google Chat is based on the jabber protocol already. Except they don't expose these group "hangouts" addresses (it's just jabber, and there's no reason for them to change that either) so even though you have custom client software that could be used to connect and join these group chats and completely not use this bullshit "Hangouts" software Google is deciding to move away from these open protocols and freedoms and force you to use their shit.

I'm probably rambling, and I'm a little drunk, but you get the idea. >:( I am really starting to hate the directions that Google is moving (all of them). They're becoming way too influential. The worst part is that most people (i.e., all of my colleagues) buy right into it. The majority will not see any of this as a bad thing. It's unfortunate. I prefer my IRC, TYVM. Perhaps I should start running my own E-mail services too.

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