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A brand new look for a brand new year.
Thanks to all of you for sticking with me this far. I look forward to seeing you (and hearing from you) often in 2008!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I’m a Web browser guy, kind of a software guy in general. When I’m working or playing at my computer, online or off, I don’t just care about the project, I care about the tools I’m using to do it. Because I tend to hang around in cyberspace with others of similar persuasion, I sometimes forget that not everyone feels the same way.
With browsers in particular, there are lots of folks who just don’t care what they use to get around the Internet. Many don’t even understand what a browser is. To them, the little blue “e” on the desktop isn’t a shortcut to start one particular Web browser out of many. It’s just “the Internet.” They don’t understand that there are good browsers and bad browsers. They don’t know, or care, that they even have a choice.
I’ve been a dedicated fan of the Opera Web browser (or Internet suite, as its supporters like to think of it) for about seven years now. For the last four of those years I’ve also been an Opera volunteer, working in one capacity or another to improve the product and encourage others to use it.
That last task isn’t always easy. Once you get people to actually try Opera, they become fans, but getting them to try it can be tough. The people who only know the little blue “e” often don’t care enough to install and learn something new, while fans of alternative browsers like Firefox can be just as dedicated in their beliefs as I am in mine, diehards who are difficult to persuade.
(For the record, I also like Firefox a lot. There are several Firefox extensions that I really enjoy and find quite helpful. When I need them, I don’t hesitate to load up Firefox and get to work. I always try to use the best tool for the job, and sometimes that’s the ‘fox.)
When it comes to evangelizing for Opera, I’ve often struggled to explain all of its advantages in a concise, easy to understand way. Fortunately, not everyone has that same problem. Yesterday, I came across a blog post from a Firefox user who gave Opera a shot and liked what he saw. I’ve read many articles like this over the years, but quite frankly, this is one of the best I’ve ever seen. It sums up dozens of Opera advantages in a fair, even-handed, open-minded way, a way that might actually encourage people to make the switch — or at least give Opera a try, after which they can make up their own minds.
I urge everyone, no matter what browser you use, to read this article: A Firefox Lover’s Guide to Opera.
A word of warning, though. Some of the features he talks about are only available in the new beta versions of Opera 9.5, which can still be a bit unstable. If you’re adventurous, by all means, check it out. You might find the benefits worth putting up with the occasional quirks of the beta product. You can always find the latest test releases and snapshot builds here: Opera Desktop Team. You’ll also find changelogs, comments from the developers, and interesting posts from volunteer testers.
If you prefer to use a tried and true stable version of Opera, then you can find it right here, along with tutorials and other helpful information, skins, widgets, an incredible user forum and the whole amazing worldwide community of Opera users.
Read, enjoy, try. Then pick the tool that’s best for the job, best for you.
Just remember that you do have a choice, and choice is good.
Tags: Alternative Browsers, Choice, Firefox, Opera, TechnologySince I haven’t been blogging (among other things) as faithfully as I should, I thought I’d take a few minutes to suggest some other sites for you to visit. This is a small sampling of the book-reading-writing-publishing-related blogs that I check in with on a fairly regular basis. It is, in tech-speak, my own “literary blogroll.”
This is only a partial list, but it’s more than enough to get you started. Some of these sites are independent, some commercial, some very information-and-detail oriented, some rather casual, some quite witty, some just weird. But all of them help feed my addiction for reading about reading. They help me keep up with new releases, old favorites, industry trends, new and established writers, and different ideas.
Undoubtedly, not all of these will be your cup of tea. Like me, you might find a few that you only want to visit once a month or so (or never again), but there may be others that will make it to your daily surfing list or your RSS feeds. Best of all, most of them offer their own lists of links, so that you can drop in on one site, find a few good suggestions, and head off for hours of fascinating blog visits.
In no particular order:
And if you still need something else, I must once again recommend Neil Gaiman’s Journal, which is still the one blog I absolutely can’t live without, as I discussed in considerable detail earlier.
Some day, I might plow deeper into my bookmarks file and list even more blogs, but this should be enough for now. In the meantime, feel free to share your own literary blogroll by e-mail or in the comments.
Tags: Blog, Blogroll, Books, Literary Sites, Publishing, Reading, Recommended Reading, Writing
