Why is Opera so slow in fixing annoying issues?

April 28, 2009 · by Jon S. von Tetzchner

Why is Opera so slow in fixing annoying issues that so many users have for years been continuously complaining about in the forums?

A browser is a really complex software. We have to deal with very complex Web standards. Then you see that hardly any site follows the standards by the book. That makes the task really difficult. This is a place where we need your help. If you both report the problems to us and to site owners, hopefully more site owners will fix things on their side.

We are putting more resources into this than ever before. This is a major focus for us. You should expect more in the future.

Readers' comments 20

Left under the original article, as archived.

FavTuesday, April 28, 2009 1:59:36 PM
I like what Daniel Goldman said some time ago:

Although not many web sites supports web standards, browser should "guess" what coder was actually trying to do and act that way.
lucideerTuesday, April 28, 2009 2:00:09 PM
Originally posted by chooseopera:

We are putting more resources into this than ever before.

Evidence of
FavTuesday, April 28, 2009 2:27:59 PM
Just because it *does*, doesn't mean it always works.
lucideerTuesday, April 28, 2009 2:32:58 PM
Originally posted by DjiXas:

Just because it *does*, doesn't mean it always works.

Your point?

Where is that quote from btw? It doesn't sound like Daniel Goldman, or it sounds out of context at least.
skye11Tuesday, April 28, 2009 2:51:29 PM
Jon focused on website compatibility in his answer
but the question really pertained to ALL issues, specifically browser function
KarenTuesday, April 28, 2009 3:13:04 PM
Ugh...I cannot believe anyone even asked this question!
lucideerTuesday, April 28, 2009 3:42:29 PM
Originally posted by Nerak:

Ugh...I cannot believe anyone even asked this question!

There was quite a few "ugh" questions. To be expected though I suppose. One or two duplicates as well...
skye11Tuesday, April 28, 2009 4:53:38 PM
@WayOfTheBastard
I based my question(s) on a more universal perspective, based on the many complaints in the forums, than on my own subjective desires - personally, I am completely content with Opera 10 (alpha), but I would like to see the more common problems solved soon so that more people will use Opera
lucideerTuesday, April 28, 2009 5:09:59 PM
Originally posted by skye11:

the more common problems
_Grey_Tuesday, April 28, 2009 6:24:47 PM
I personally thought the question was about the more general picture (and it was, as skye11 said).

One might have included an example. I believe RSS still doesn't work without a mail account, right? That used to annoy me, and is counter-intuitive.

There are guaranteed to be other small problems people have been complaining about for years that noone has addressed yet. Many of those won't apply for me, but I usually see their point. Would be nice if Opera ASA did, too.
mabdulTuesday, April 28, 2009 6:51:59 PM
don't ell bullshit! rss/atom/rdf/whatever feed opera supports is working quite well without any mail acc installed in opera. I like thunderbird more than the m2 so I'm using thunderbird as my mail and opera as my browser and rss reader...
_Grey_Tuesday, April 28, 2009 7:06:33 PM
Hey hey, mabdul, easy there. It was just an example. I have 2 mail accounts on Opera, so I wouldn't know. I just wanted an example of extremely trivial things.

I guess the example was flawed though, so you're right. I think what didn't/doesn't work is rss in a panel. I'm sorry for being wrong.
TamilTuesday, April 28, 2009 11:29:54 PM
Who asked this question?
lucideerTuesday, April 28, 2009 11:40:43 PM
Originally posted by Tamil:

Who asked this question?

Who cares. Why has so much discussion followed one of the silliest questions in the list?
johnnysaucepnWednesday, April 29, 2009 8:50:05 AM
Originally posted by DjiXas:

Although not many web sites supports web standards, browser should "guess" what coder was actually trying to do and act that way.
[...]
Just because it *does*, doesn't mean it always works.

I think you've answered your own question - that is always the fundamental problem with guessing.
NRageWednesday, April 29, 2009 4:03:29 PM
Well, there are some gripes I have, like this feature: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=21013
Requested: 1 June 2003 - Implemented: in Opera 10

And it should be a very simple feature(yet insanely important to me) to boot.
user258Wednesday, April 29, 2009 10:18:21 PM
This was a good question with a bad answer.

Opera continues to ignore the 9.27 incompatibility issues. See Fix the 9.27 Incompatibilities
lucideerWednesday, April 29, 2009 10:35:56 PM
Originally posted by user258:

Opera continues to ignore the 9.27 incompatibility issues

Of the six "issues" you linked:
the 1st is not real
the 2nd is/was a webpage issue
the 3rd and 5th are really low-priority and the 3rd is fixed in 10
the 4th I have never had a problem with personally so it's probably an individual issue with personal installations
the 6th is far too vague to even define properly

This is exactly the kind of silly stuff this question is about.
Austin HThursday, May 7, 2009 9:48:39 PM
Why don't you all switch to FireFox!!!
lucideerMonday, May 11, 2009 7:25:15 PM
Originally posted by WayOfTheBastard:

aj00200, why are you trolling?

I think it was intended as a light hearted comment given the above question's sentiments. Not trolling, merely an acerbic way of saying "stop complaining". That's how I took it, perhaps I'm mistaken.