Opera’s Built-In Features vs. Firefox’s Equivalent Extensions

It’s always nice to be able to try numerous different programs that have a similar function, and see which one is the most suitable for you. Opera and Firefox are the perfect example.

It is widely known that Opera is amazing for its out-of-the-box capability: right after the installation, you have a wide variety of tools inside of Opera. On the other hand, Firefox is known to be great for its extensions: people can easily download an addon that is suitable for them (and there is a very long list of addons for Firefox) and use it.

Sometimes, people want to switch from Firefox to Opera, or vice versa to test out some of the features the other has to offer. This list shows some of the most used features that come with Opera, and the extensions for Firefox that offer similar job:

1. Opera: Panels

Panels is a convenient sidebar in Opera which makes the most essential tabs easily accessible. Bookmarks, Mail, Contacts, Widgets, Notes, Downloads, and much more can be accessed from this sidebar instantly

Firefox: All-in-One Sidebar

“All-in-One Sidebar (AiOS) … lets you quickly switch between sidebar panels, view dialog windows such as downloads, extensions, and more in the sidebar, or view source or websites in the sidebar.”

2. Opera: User Javascript

These are site-specific scripts which can be used to enhance the functionality of a site. Find Scripts at UserJS.org and Userscripts.org.

Firefox: Greasemonkey

“Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript.”
Search for some of your favorite websites at Userscripts.org to see what scripts they have to offer.

3. Opera: Bookmark Customizability

In Opera, you can customize the bookmarks bar to show only the favicon image of the website, instead of showing the text and the image. This can be done by going to Tools - Appearances - ‘Toolbars’ Tab - Select ‘Personal bar’ and then next to style, choose ‘Images only’. This saves a lot of room on the bookmark toolbar.

Firefox: Smart Bookmarks Bar

“Not enough place on your bookmarks bar ?… Smart Bookmarks Bar extension comes right here by hiding bookmarks names and only showing icons.

Bookmark names will be displayed on mouse over. This feature can be disactivated if you just want icons without the rollover effect.”

4. Opera: Speed Dial

Blank tabs show 9 clickable buttons which have links to your favorite tabs. This allows easy access to your favorite sites every time you open a new tab.

Firefox: Speed Dial

“With Speed Dial, you can easily access your most used websites. To show the Speed Dial tab, use the Speed Dial button (which can be added to the toolbar), or enter “chrome://speeddial/content” in your location bar.”

5. Opera: Mouse Gestures

“Opera supports mouse gestures, allowing you to perform certain movements with the mouse to access commonly used features.”
If you constantly use a mouse, this lets you quickly close a tab, open a new tab, go Back, Forward, and do many different tasks just by moving the mouse while the right button is clicked.

Firefox: Mouse Gestures

“Allows you to execute common commands (like page forward/backward, close tab, new tab) by mouse gestures drawn over the current webpage, without reaching for the toolbar or the keyboard.”

6. Opera: Notes

“Notes can be kept in conjunction with a Web site you want to refer to later, or remind you of any particular information you may like to review again.”

Firefox: Scrapbook

“ScrapBook … helps you to save Web pages and easily manage collections. Key features are lightness, speed, accuracy and multi-language support. Major features are:
* Save Web page
* Save snippet of Web page
* Save Web site
* Organize the collection in the same way as Bookmarks
* Full text search and quick filtering search of the collection
* Editing of the collected Web page
* Text/HTML edit feature resembling Opera’s Notes”

7. Opera: Image Loading

In Opera, you have the option to turn site images on and off. This is helpful for those web sites which you just can’t trust (NSFW ads) or when you are running on dial-up.

Firefox: ImgLikeOpera

“ImgLikeOpera allows [you to] load only the images that you want in Firefox browser.”

8. Opera: Wand - Passwords

A password managing tool which executes the saved password when the user presses ctrl-enter.

Firefox: Secure Login

“It uses the built-in password manager, but deactivates the prefilling of login forms. Instead, you are now able to login with one click or a keyboard shortcut (ALT+N - changeable via settings). Just add the Secure Login toolbar button to your toolbar, or use the provided statusbar icon.”

9. Opera: Wand - Auto-Complete Forms

Wand also auto-completes forms. All you have to do is press ctrl-enter, and your name, email, address, phone, etc… are all filled into the form.

Firefox: Formfiller

“Formfiller is a small extension to help with filling in forms. It lets the user fill in information (name, address, zip code, or whatever) once that can be pasted into textboxes from the context menu.”

Note the similarities, and how one browser’s innovative features influenced the other. Competition at its best.

Are there any more similar features between Opera and Firefox? Post in the comments.

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