Opera [1], the third cross-platform browser, has released version 9. I know how hard it is to move away from what we’re used to in a program that creates and surrounds almost everything we do on the web, but give this thing a try; it’s fast and loaded with features that would make your browsing life easier:
- tabbed browsing, of course, but with the neat ability to show you a thumbnail of what’s behind the tabs when you hover over them;
- session saving, either when you choose it at closing or when you re-start the browser;
- the ability to add search engines to the drop-down list in the toolbar search field (e.g. CanLII);
- an interesting “fast forward” button that lets you click through to the most likely next page;
- a built-in notes function that saves selected text and the URL whence it came;
and, as they say, much much more.
If you’re in a situation where you aren’t allowed to download software, bug your “let’s fool around with this” people to give it a test drive — and take it for a spin at home. It’s free and easy.