Eeep! For the second time this week I have been tagged. This time by Ryan of CyberNet News. This game was originally started by Daniel of Opera Watch, who if I remember correctly is actually an employee of Opera, as a way to gain more knowledge of what people want out of Opera.Ryan – Thanks for thinking of me! I’m passionate about a lot of things, but web browser’s could possibly be the one topic I care the most about. I’m always willing to offer suggestions, especially when I know that the people responsible for the product could be listening and using my input.

For those still with me, here are the rules of the game. I give my list of 5 things I would like to see added to the Opera browser, then I tag 5 people to do the same. The only catch is Daniel would prefer the opinions of people that don’t use Opera as their default browser (which is the opinions that will do the Opera team the most good).

What are 5 things I’d like to see added to the Opera desktop web browser?

  1. Automatic Updates – With most web browsers, when you update, the browser installs its updates automatically. Opera still requires you to go and manually download the newest version of the browser. Why is this #1? It is hard for me to take a browser seriously without this feature.
  2. Inline Spellcheck – Firefox/Flock have this now and Internet Explorer has it with IE7Pro installed. Now that I’m used to it, I need this before I will consider switching back to Opera.
  3. Default Theme Improvement – I’m a big visual person. The new Flock 0.9 theme blew me away. I realize Opera has skins, but I would like to see a better default theme that gets users excited to use their new browser.
  4. More Status Bar options – Firefox/Flock extensions do a great job of using the status bar to display information. I would like to see a bunch of optional notifiers built into the status bar of the browser. These could then be turned on/off in the Options panel.
  5. Optional Widget Integration – Opera’s current widget system is really inconvenient, with widgets not being built directly into the browser. This makes them unusable to me.  I don’t need any extra stuff running in the background and cluttering up my desktop, and most of this stuff can be added to the desktop search tools that Google and Microsoft offer if you really need them.

So, there is my list. Where is my request for extensions you ask? I don’t think Opera needs them and is actually better off without them.  They’ve built all the important ones into the browser.  All I want is some notifiers in the status bar to fill my extension needs (an e-mail notifier, Google AdSense notifier, calendar notifier, a feed reader notifier, etc.).

Tag, you’re it!

  1. Nirmal from Life Rock 2.0 – Nirmal is a Firefox/Flock user, so I’d like to hear his opinions on this.
  2. Mitch Keeler of Firefox Facts – Mitch runs several great sites, including Firefox Facts.  I would love to hear his opinions on this (if you don’t want to post it on FF, you can post it on one of your other sites)
  3. Chris Pirillo – I’m not sure which browser Chris uses by default, but he was great at pointing out the flaws with Vista, and he is a fellow Iowan, so if he can find the time I’m sure he’ll have no troubles with recommendations for Opera.Â
  4. Garry Conn – Garry still uses Internet Explorer *gasp*.  I’d like to hear what he needs to see to make the switch to Opera.Â
  5. Karthik from Shankri-La – K spends a lot of time discussing Firefox on his site, so I’d love to hear his thoughts.Â

Hope everyone tagged chooses to participate!