Return of a browser

I felt it rather merited to write about this topic given that I don't write much technical stuff, because it dawned on me the other day that the web may be about to see the return to glory of what once was one of the most innovative browsers.

I am talking about the browser that first implemented the now ubiquitous "tab" concept and "mouse gestures". Also, one of the first to tackle the task of conforming to web standards set out by the W3C (though at the same time, maintaining compatibility with Internet Explorer).

Opera is about to be released as version 9 and it appears that they have finally ironed out most of the really irritating bugs that plagued CSS and Javascript rendering. whilst testing a new application on the Beta version, it dawned on me that the difference between Opera's rendering and Gecko's (and KHTML's for that matter) is very small. This is quite an achievement considering that there has been up til now a certain disenchantment when coming to create CSS designs compatible with Opera. It is hard enough as it is having to make special concessions and work-arounds for Internet Explorer's bugs and quirks. Opera however, unlike IE, is not used by 85% of the web-browsing population, which has made implementing hacks such a tedious and often seemingly worthless task.

That was, up until now. With correct standards support and proper rendering of CSS and correct execution of Javascript/DOM, the dream of creating a web rendered the same on all screens has come a step closer.

I don't want to jump the gun, but from what I have seen so far, I like it. Perhaps it is time to dig out that little browser from out of that digital closet, and give it another chance.