Opera, the underdog web browser

Though I have long considered, and still do, Firefox to be the best workhorse browser out there due to it's huge library of add-on functionalities, Opera has always been an attractive replacement to me. It feels faster, looks prettier, and does more right out of the box than either Firefox or IE.

But I was surprised to learn yesterday that out of those 3 browsers, Opera is the only one that passes the Acid 2 standards test (a test that determines how able a browser is in understanding and displaying standards-based code)! I always assumed Opera to be less accurate. Try it yourself in your favorite browsers. I've heard that Safari also passes, but I have been unable to test it.

Still, sites are not being developed with Opera in mind right now, due to their low market share, so popular sites, especially Google's (blogger, docs, calendar), don't work properly with it yet. Which is sad because I find Opera to be a much more comfortable ride. If you don't regularly use the services mentioned, or can use alternatives, check out Opera, you may be pleasantly surprised.