My attempt to give back to the nerd community
Discussing all things internet: web, email, servers, etc.
I just stumbled upon this gem. Opera on Mac has spell checking built-in! Right-click in a text box and there ya go. That was easy.
This Opera page contains details about Opera and spell checking. It states:
“On Mac OS X, Opera uses the system spell checker. There is no need to install additional software.”
I’ve used Mozilla products in their various forms for years now. First with the Mozilla suite, then to Phoenix for a little bit, then realizing it was too buggy for my tastes so back to Mozilla Suite, then over to Firebird (0.3 or so if I recall) for a little while, back to Mozilla, then finally the combination of Firefox and Thunderbird. I landed on those two primarily because I like Thunderbird better than Mozilla Mail, and (at the time, before Seamonkey) the suite was probably going bye-bye. I wasn’t thrilled about two apps using the same base of code taking up twice the footprint, but I learned to live with it.
A few things have always been consistent with these products:
In the past, the first three items won out. Even though the software was slow and unresponsive, all of the other positives made up for it. Especially the IMAP support in Thunderbird. I’d be lost without it.
I’ve been using Opera as an “alternate” browser for a while now. I was first intrigued around the version 5 days. However, I basically just installed it, browsed to a few pages, then uninstalled it a couple days later. Same thing with version 6. I really started to like what I was seeing with version 7. I was able to get my then employer to pay the $30.00 to purchase it. Yes, that’s right, I actually purchased a Web browser. I must admit, if it wasn’t an employee expense, I probably never would have purchased it. Something about paying for a Web browser that just doesn’t seem right. But I really liked it for Webdev. Version 8 was a pretty big improvement IMO. This was the release that got me thinking about switching from Firefox.
One of my main complaints with Opera has been the UI. I simply didn’t like it. Yes, it’s configurable, but I don’t want to have to do homework just to fix what I feel is an inferior UI. Enter downloadable Toolbars and Keyboard shortcuts. I found the “Hugin and Munin” configs and finally felt at home. I had the uncluttered UI of Firefox, with the goodness of Opera. I still didn’t feel like switching though. I had quite a bit of extensions with Firefox and not changing is easier than changing.
With the recent release of version 9, I made the plunge. I am now a part-time Firefox user and a full-time Opera user. I’ll explain the part-time thing later.
First, a list of what I like about Opera:
There are a few downsides, but mostly minor. As with any non-IE browser, some stupid sites browser sniff and complain that you’re not using there “supported” browser. Firefox users are used to this, albeit to a lessor degree nowadays. It seems the de facto “supported” browsers are IE and FF. Every once in a while you’ll see Safari on their list. Without fail, Opera is never listed. This really doesn’t present an issue if the site is not browser sniffing. But if they are, you may need to change the user agent of Opera. Unlike Firefox, this functionality is built-in.
There are a few sites that flat-out don’t work in Opera. A few that come to mind are Google Calendar and Zillow.com. That’s when I fire up Firefox. Hence my part-time Firefox usage comment. Ironically, some of the WordPress admin features don’t work as well in Opera. So when I post to this blog, I usually use Firefox.
Firefox is good; Opera is good. I’m a fanboy of neither. What I can say is that after using Opera 9 for a few months, I am quite pleased and glad I switched. Your opinion may differ.
Beings that both browsers are free, there’s little reason not to download and try either one or both. Using a piece of software is the best (ok, only) way to know if you like it!
When using Toggle Software‘s ToggleMINIMIZE with Mozilla Firefox and/or Mozilla Thunderbird, you may find that it’s not minimizing to the tray as it should. You need to set a preference in the Moz apps before it will work.
I totally stumbled upon this by accident. I was investigating Firefoxes’ atrocious memory handling and how to deal with it. I found the config.trim_on_minimize Mozilla preference (FYI, I’m still evaluating this to see if I like what it does). After restarting FF and TB, they started minimizing to the tray all of a sudden! To verify that config.trim_on_minimize was the fix, I removed that pref, restarted and tried to minimize to the tray. It didn’t work. So, there’s your fix for that, found on a fluke.
See Mr. Tiensivu’s blog for more info on the Mozilla preference.