Opera 4

If you think you have only two choices–IE and Netscape–as

far as browsers are concerned, you couldn’t be further from the truth. The

market is flooded with alternative or "rebel" browsers as they’re

called. And among these, Opera heads the field. Slowly but steadily, Opera has

carved out a niche for itself, and has developed a small but loyal community of

fans around the globe.

It supports most standards-compliant browsers in the

industry. Version 4 complies with HTML 4.01, XML 1, XHTML 1, CSS Level 1 and

Level 2, ECMA-262 and HTTP/1.1, among other standards. Opera is also one of the

first browsers to support Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Wireless

Markup Language (WML), all in one package. These two standards enable you to

browse the Internet on your mobile phone, and are technologies of the near

future. Advantage, Opera.

This version is also the first one with native Java support.

This means that Opera uses the Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.2 and above

directly, instead of using a plug-in to run Java applets, as was done in

previous versions. This version too comes with the facility of opening many

sub-windows (Web pages) simultaneously within the main window of Opera. It also

updates the huge list of bookmarks of useful sites, which is included with each

release.

Opera 4 sports a new, improved interface which makes working

much more comfortable, as compared to the old interface which could become a

little intimidating for new users. Another long-standing demand of users has

been answered–Opera now has its own e-mail client. And what’s more, it isn’t

a "me too" kind of e-mail client–it’s a complete e-mail solution,

with support for multiple accounts, filters, and address book. It also lets you

import mail and account settings from your current e-mail client.

Other new features include a "Print Preview" mode

and a now easier to access "Full Screen" mode. Though the full screen

mode has been present in older versions of Opera, it can now be easily activated

at the press of the F11 key, IE style. Opera even has a cookie-tracking

facility, which can warn you when a Website tries to send you a cookie. You can

also set it to automatically accept or reject cookies. Opera offers the facility

of a newsreader too. It provides support for the latest multimedia plug-ins such

as Macromedia Shockwave Flash, QuickTime, and RealPlayer.

Opera surprised even the most loyal and demanding of its fans

by including the facility to resume downloads within the browser. It keeps track

of all your downloads in the "Transfer Window" and you can continue

any downloads that were cancelled or disrupted (provided the server supports

it).

Opera is accompanied by a comprehensive help file, which

explains everything from Internet technologies to configuring and

troubleshooting different components. All this and more in a program, which

installs to take an incredible less than 4 MB. The only drawback is that, it’s

not free. However, the trial version is available on the accompanying PCQ CD.