The Problem with Opera

I really like Opera. They've always been way ahead when it comes to pushing for web standards, and with people like Bruce Lawson onboard they're paving the way for HTML5 and CSS3 to become "main stream".  As a web designer I like Opera.

Knowing this then, it's hardly surprising that the latest web browser to roll off the Opera production line (the imaginatively named "Opera 10") is a really cute piece of kit.  Opening it up for the first time you know it's going to be cutting edge when a little notification pops up to tell you that "Turbo Mode" has been enabled!

As you'd expect with Opera you get the usual plethora of gadgets including Mouse Gestures, Opera Dragonfly (Firebug for Opera) and a Session Manager.  There are UI improvements too, with new resizable "Visual Tabs" (thumbnail previews of your open tabs) and interface design by respected designer Jon Hicks.

However, it seems the main development budget has been invested in rendering speed improvements with claims that Opera Presto 2.2 is now 40% faster on resource intensive apps like Gmail and Facebook.  This has been coupled with Opera Turbo, which uses Opera's servers to compress web pages, boosting your browsing speed by (a claimed) two times.

The Obvious choice?

In light of all this amazing technology you'd expect that as a hard-core web user I'd have Opera 10 set as my default browser.  Or would you? In reality, I just can't find a place for Opera in my web world.

Opera for Front End Development?

I do a lot of CSS work and whilst Opera's Dragonfly is a good bit of kit, I'm way too comfortable with Firebug to consider learning a new tool.  Inevitably then Firefox 3.5 is my browser of choice for web development and that ain't going to change any time soon.

Opera for Utility?

As good as Firefox is, I find that all my web development addons do tend cause it to become pretty visually bloated.  I crave a clean interface with minimal clutter where I can focus on content and not be distracted. I could choose Opera for this task, but I actually opt for Google's Chrome browser.

The reason for this is Chrome's ability to create "Application Shortcut's" for certain web pages which removes the browser "chrome" (see what they did there?) from around the view port.  This is great for things such as Gmail.  I just make a application shortcut and add it to my quick launch bar and I want to open my email quickly I just hit the icon.  So convenient and there's nothing to distract me.

Opera for Speed?

Ok ok, so Opera's got to win on this front surely.  Well yes...and no.

Whilst Opera's speed is a really great selling point, it's just not enough to prise me away from either Firefox or Chrome.  I'm sure that if you measured one against the other, Opera might be 2/10ths of a second fast at rendering a page, but even to someone who works online everyday this simply isn't a noticeable enough difference.

So what is wrong?

I really want to use Opera 10.  I think it's great but I just cannot find a reason to have a 3rd browser in my life. Despite all it's great features the overall package doesn't incentivise me to ditch either Firefox or Chrome.

I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on this.  Do you use Opera 10? What features make it stand out for you? Why do you think that's it's still not making any inroads in the browser market?