Latest Opera browser gets vocal

[emad]

By Geoff Adams-Spink
BBC News disability affairs correspondent


Net browser Opera 8.0, due for official release at the end of next month, will be "the most accessible browser on the market", according to its authors.

The latest version of the net browser can be controlled by voice command and will read pages aloud.

The voice features, based on IBM technology, are currently only available in the Windows version.

Opera can also magnify text by up to 10 times and users can create "style sheets", its developers say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4208751.stm

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. So, if it hears a fat lady singing, will it uninstall itself? (nt)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

2. And Opera 7 STILL chokes on certain pages.

I have the paid version, and I have tried to like it. Many times it works well. It also loads a page half way, stops for no apparent reason, and I sit there watching the tumbleweeds roll by to the lonesome call of the coyote while it does nothing.

Opera could have been the "IE Killer"...and it wasn't...so now the question is "If Firefox is free, and can do everything Opera does, why would someone use Opera?"

The new voice command sounds great, unless it STILL chokes on loading. Then it's the same old Opera browser with a voice command. They can't have the same problematic browser under the hood and attempt to "fix" it by adding bells and whistles.

[landdaddy]

5. I have been using Opera

for years and have never encountered problems such as you have related. I have Firefox installed also but prefer all the features of Opera.

[idiosyncratic]

8. I've been an Opera user for years also

Although I felt like I was being unfaithful to my SO, I downloaded and installed Firefox recently since so many people on DU mention it.

I'm sorry, compared to Opera, Firefox is clunky and ugly, and slow.

Opera is sophisticated, easy to customize, and FULL of wonderful features.

On my old computer, I sometimes have more than thirty web pages open at a time, along with three or four additional programs.

Opera is lean and wonderfully functional . . .

I'm glad to see other Opera fans here! :hug:

[hunter]

6. Which pages?

Firefox and Opera both do this sometimes if they hit code that does some mischief only IE understands.

Often it's an innocent mistake that the site developer didn't notice because he or she didn't test it on "alternative" browsers.

It can also be a "my way or the highway" IE developer. These jokers are especially common at various banking institutions, usually at institutions that also treat their customers badly when they show up at the bank in person.

But mostly I find this sort of problem on porn and "easy-money" sites, where the developers really don't have their "customers" best interests at heart. If they can hijack IE and mine it for your personal information they will, and the next thing you know you are getting pictures of teenaged Stephane and her horse selling herbal nutritional supplements that work better than Viagra.

I NEVER use IE. Any site that requires IE to work properly that does not respond immediately to my complaints is not worth my time. It's that simple. I don't have to shop at Microsoft, or WalMart, or any other business I don't support. (For the record, I am mostly indifferent towards Microsoft; I can sometimes smile when I have to purchase Microsoft products. But I always loathe WalMart.)

In any case, the developers of Opera and Firefox are far more sensitive about various "bugs" than Microsoft is. If a certain page is "hanging" it is a good deed to report that.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

9. It's been random, I'd have to make note the next time it happened...

I know in older versions of Opera (probably 4X versions), things like Style Sheets caused a problem...of course, Web Designers who design in CSS need test across all of the popular browsers in PC and Mac platforms, but that probably doesn't happen 100% of the time.

The stuff that choked on me was pretty mainstream stuff. I have a daily ritual that usually begins with a pass through DU, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, CNET, My Yahoo, and DVD Verdict. I generally never make it all the way through that run with Opera, and since I DO with Firefox, I don't try that often. I have the paid version of Opera 7.54...the latest "official" release...and I used it about two weeks ago (until it choked).

I've used NetCaptor, which is essentially a front end for IE, but it's got coding of its own. It's not simply a GUI interface, but it DOES have IE under the hood.

Microsoft-dependent content, such as the "Today Show" video clips on MSNBC, require IE. If I'm not going where IE is required, I don't use IE.

:toast:

[idiosyncratic]

7. If Opera "chokes" on a page, check out the code on this site

I have been using Opera for more than two years and I love :loveya: Opera.

Because of my terribly slow Internet connection, it was a wonderful discovery. I bought it just four days after installing it and discovering all its wonderful features.

I even changed the .ini files to really customize "My Opera."

If Opera cannot open a page, it is because the code stinks. It is time for webmasters to learn how to make valid code.

HTML Validator


Also, Opera allows you to change the way it IDs itself. My bank used to work with Opera identified as Opera. Then they "updated" their site. Now I have to change Opera's ID (F12) to M$IE to go to my bank account. Silly them . . . it works perfectly with Opera then. And I immediately change the ID back after doing my banking.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

10. That's my assumption, it's rarely the "fault" of Opera...

...thanks for the link.

That's one of the nice things about the Firefox 1.0 release...it's got a "validation" button in its Web toolbar for that very purpose.

:toast:

[cheezus]

3. MacOS X + [insert browser here] can already do all that

but I'm glad the computer industry is finally making accessablity a priority

[wtmusic]

4. Another 'innovation' for an MS product

but will it have all the security flaws IE users know they can count on?