Revisiting Otter Browser: Beta 11 released

Otter Browser Beta 11 is the latest version of the web browser that aims to recreate the best aspects of classic Opera.

The Otter Browser project was announced back in 2014 as a response to Opera migrating away from the company's Presto core to Chromium/Blink.

We have followed development of the browser from the first beta of Otter browser released in June 2014 to beta 3 and beta 8, and now beta 11.

Otter Browser Beta 11 is the latest version of the web browser, and it brings along with it quite a few improvements over previous beta versions.

Since we have not reviewed beta 9 and 10 of the browser, we will include those in the following listing as well:

Otter Browser: Beta 11

Lets take a look at the features that are new or improved in the latest three beta releases:

1. Add-ons Manager and initial support for userscripts is now available.
2. Initial support for spell checking and password storage added.
3. Tab muting is supported now.
4. Support for full screen mode, content blocking and custom blocking rules added.
5. New customization options, e.g. to customize the progress bar added.

Content Blocking

Content Blocking is one of the big new features in Otter Browser. You can configure the feature under Tools > Content Blocking. This pops up a new window that enables you to subscribe to one or multiple filter lists, or switch over to the custom rules tab (after enabling the option on the screen), to add custom blocking rules.

Subscriptions work pretty much as you'd expect them to. Simply check one or multiple filter lists on the page to subscribe to the lists.

All lists that you are subscribed to are automatically active in the browser from that moment on.

You may override content blocking on select sites by right-clicking on the site, selecting Website Preferences from the context menu, and switching to Content Blocking in the window that opens.

It is rather interesting that you can enable or disable filter lists individually for each site. So, you could keep a social blocking list enabled while disabling the blocking of advertisement.

Generally speaking

Otter Browser Beta 11 loads most sites just fine. The browser lacks behind when it comes to certain technologies however. You will notice that it does not support Media Source Extensions for instance which means that you won't be able to play media on sites that require it.

The browser gets a score of 343 out of 555 points on HTML5 test which is lower than all other major browsers currently.

There is also quite a bit of work to be done before version 1.0 of the browser gets released. The devs plan to add tab stacking and panorama mode, support for tab thumbnails, a feed reader, helper for mouse gestures, and options to fine tune the user interface to Otter Browser.

The main issue of the project is that development is rather slow. It took the team two years to go from the initial beta to beta 11, and it is yet unclear when the first final version of Otter Browser will become available.

Now You: What's your take on Otter Browser? Still promising?

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